I don’t know anything about the internals of either of these, so I wouldn’t be of much use there. Would like to hear from someone who can make an informed comparison, though.

I guess there are a couple of axes to explore. First, the technology for managing multiscale images and conveying them over the network. Second, the mechanism for stitching scenes together — in this case, more of a comparison between Gigapan and Photosynth.

Have you had a look at Gigapan.org? I know it’s in the Google/Flash family tree, not Microsoft’s, but it allows you to do a lot of the same things as the new Deep Zoom (formerly SeaDragon) application – as far as I can see. Plus, you can annotate “snapshots” there and the snapshots get their own URL, which (if I understand it correctly) is part of what you’re asking for above. If it’s not out of line (given your employment by Microsoft) to review a competing product, I’d love to hear your thoughts on a head to head comparison Deep Zoom and Gigapan. (I’ll gladly disclose that I’ve got a Gigapan unit and am one of the more prolific posters to the Gigapan.org site.) I’m curious, though, because I don’t see why the equipment I’ve got for creating Gigapan images couldn’t produce the raw materials for Deep Zoom images, as well.

Thanks,
Ron Schott