Methods and apparatus for navigating an image

1. A method, comprising: zooming into or out of an image having at least one object, wherein at least some elements of the at least one object are scaled up and/or down in a way that is non-physically proportional to one or more zoom levels associated with the zooming, wherein the non-physically proportional scaling may be expressed by the following formula: p=d′·z a , where p is a linear size in pixels of one or more elements of the object at the zoom level, d′ is an imputed linear size of the one or more elements of the object in physical units, z is the zoom level in units of physical linear size/pixel, and a is a power law where a≠−1.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of d′ and a may vary for one or more elements of the object.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the power law is −1<a<0 within a range of zoom levels z 0 and z 1 , where z 0 is of a lower physical linear size/pixel than z 1 .

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein at least one of z 0 , z 1 , d′ and a may vary for one or more elements of the object.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least some elements of the at least one object are also scaled up and/or down in a way that is physically proportional to one or more zoom levels associated with the zooming.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the physically proportional scaling may be expressed by the following formula: p=c·d/z, where p is a linear size in pixels of one or more elements of the object, c is a constant, d is a real or imputed linear size in physical units of the one or more elements of the object, and z is the zoom level in physical linear size/pixel.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein:

the elements of the object are of varying degrees of coarseness; and

the scaling of the elements at a given zoom level are physically proportional or non-physically proportional based on at least one of: (I) a degree of coarseness of such elements; and (ii) the zoom level.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein:

the object is a roadmap, the elements of the object are roads, and the varying degrees of coarseness are road hierarchies; and

the scaling of a given road at a given zoom level is physically proportional or non-physically proportional based on: (I) the road hierarchy of the given road; and (ii) the zoom level.

9. A storage medium containing one or more software programs that are operable to cause a processing unit to execute actions, comprising: zooming into or out of an image having at least one object, wherein at least some elements of the at least one object are scaled up and/or down in a way that is non-physically proportional to one or more zoom levels associated with the zooming, wherein the non-physically proportional scaling may be expressed by the following formula: p=d′·z a , where p is a linear size in pixels of one or more elements of the object at the zoom level, d′ is an imputed linear size of the one or more elements of the object in physical units, z is the zoom level in units of physical linear size/pixel, and a is a power law where a≠−1.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein at least one of d′ and a may vary for one or more elements of the object.

11. The storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the scale power is −1<a<0 within a range of zoom levels between z 0 and z 1 , where z 0 is of a lower physical linear size/pixel than z 1 .

12. The storage medium of claim 11 , wherein at least one of z 0 and z 1 may vary for one or more elements of the object.

13. The storage medium of claim 9 , wherein at least some elements of the at least one object are also scaled up and/or down in a way that is physically proportional to one or more zoom levels associated with the zooming.

14. The storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the physically proportional scaling may be expressed by the following formula: p=c·d/z, where p is a linear size in pixels of one or more elements of the object, c is a constant, d is a real or imputed linear size in physical units of the one or more elements of the object, and z is the zoom level in physical linear size/pixel.

15. The storage medium of claim 13 , wherein:

the elements of the object are of varying degrees of coarseness; and

the scaling of the elements at a given zoom level are physically proportional or non-physically proportional based on at least one of: (I) a degree of coarseness of such elements; and (ii) the zoom level.

16. The storage medium of claim 15 , wherein:

the object is a roadmap, the elements of the object are roads, and the varying degrees of coarseness are road hierarchies; and

the scaling of a given road at a given zoom level is physically proportional or non-physically proportional based on: (I) the road hierarchy of the given road; and (ii) the zoom level.

17. An apparatus including a processing unit operating under the control of one or more software programs that are operable to cause the processing unit to execute actions, comprising: zooming into or out of an image having at least one object, wherein at least some elements of the at least one object are scaled up and/or down in a way that is non-physically proportional to one or more zoom levels associated with the zooming, wherein the non-physically proportional scaling may be expressed by the following formula: p=d′·z a , where p is a linear size in pixels of one or more elements of the object at the zoom level, d′ is an imputed linear size of the one or more elements of the object in physical units, z is the zoom level in units of physical linear size/pixel, and a is a power law where a≠1.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein at least one of d′ and a may vary for one or more elements of the object.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the power law is −1<a<0 within a range of zoom levels z 0 and z 1 , where z 0 is of a lower physical linear size/pixel than z 1 .

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein at least one of z 0 and z 1 may vary for one or more elements of the object.

21. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein at least some elements of the at least one object are also scaled up and/or down in a way that is physically proportional to one or more zoom levels associated with the zooming.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the physically proportional scaling may be expressed by the following formula: p=c·d/z, where p is a linear size in pixels of one or more elements of the object, c is a constant, d is a real or imputed linear size in physical units of the one or more elements of the object, and z is the zoom level in physical linear size/pixel.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein:

the elements of the object are of varying degrees of coarseness; and

the scaling of the elements at a given zoom level are physically proportional or non-physically proportional based on at least one of: (I) a degree of coarseness of such elements; and (ii) the zoom level.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein:

the object is a roadmap, the elements of the object are roads, and the varying degrees of coarseness are road hierarchies; and

the scaling of a given road at a given zoom level is physically proportional or non-physically proportional based on: (I) the road hierarchy of the given road; and (ii) the zoom level.

25. A method, comprising: preparing a plurality of images of different zoom levels of at least one object, wherein at least some elements of the at least one object are scaled up and/or down in a way that is non-physically proportional to one or more zoom levels, wherein scaling may be expressed by the following formula: p=d′·z a , where p is a linear size in pixels of one or more elements of the object at the zoom level, d′ is an imputed linear size of the one or more elements of the object in physical units, z is the zoom level in units of physical linear size/pixel, and a is a power law where a≠−1.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the images are pre-rendered at a source terminal for delivery to a client terminal.

27. The method of claim 25 , wherein at least one of d′ and a may vary for one or more elements of the object.

28. The method of claim 25 , wherein the power law is −1<a<0 within a range of zoom levels between z 0 and z 1 , where z 0 is of a lower physical linear size/pixel than z 1 .

29. The method of claim 28 , wherein at least one of z 0 and z 1 may vary for one or more elements of the object.

30. The method of claim 25 , wherein at least some elements of the at least one object are also scaled up and/or down in a way that is physically proportional to one or more zoom levels associated with the zooming.

31. The method of claim 30 , wherein the physically proportional scaling may be expressed by the following formula: p=c·d/z, where p is a linear size in pixels of one or more elements of the object, c is a constant, d is a real or imputed linear size in physical units of the one or more elements of the object, and z is the zoom level in physical linear size/pixel.

32. The method of claim 30 , wherein:

the elements of the object are of varying degrees of coarseness; and

the scaling of the elements at a given zoom level are physically proportional or non-physically proportional based on at least one of: (I) a degree of coarseness of such elements; and (ii) the zoom level.

33. The method of claim 32 , wherein:

the object is a roadmap, the elements of the object are roads, and the varying degrees of coarseness are road hierarchies; and

the scaling of a given road at a given zoom level is physically proportional or non-physically proportional based on: (I) the road hierarchy of the given road; and (ii) the zoom level.