1. A computer-implemented method for registering a photographic image in a three-dimensional (3D) geographic environment of a geographic information system, comprising: (a) determining, by one or more computing devices, a virtual location of the photographic image within the 3D geographic environment based on the 3D geographic environment and metadata of the photographic image, wherein the virtual location within the 3D geographic environment corresponds to a geolocation where the photographic image was captured; (b) determining, by the one or more computing devices, an orientation direction of the photographic image within the 3D geographic environment by matching one or more physical features captured in the photographic image with one or more physical features represented in the 3D geographic environment, wherein the virtual location and the orientation direction are used to align a scene captured in the photographic image with a 3D scene in the 3D geographic environment; (c) constructing, by the one or more computing devices, an image pyramid of the photographic image, the image pyramid containing multiple image versions having different resolutions, wherein the constructing comprises determining a resolution and constructing the image pyramid based on the resolution, the determining a resolution comprising calculating a number of levels in the image pyramid based on a tile size, the calculating comprising calculating the number of levels to be the higher of log 2 (W/T) and log 2 (H/T), wherein W is a width of the photographic image, wherein H is a height of the photographic image, and wherein T is the tile size; (d) storing, by the one or more computing devices, the image pyramid, the virtual location and the orientation direction of the photographic image; (e) receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a user input during navigation into the 3D scene in the 3D geographic environment selecting the aligned photographic image within the 3D geographic environment; (f) in response to receipt of the user input, displaying, by the one or more computing devices, a given image version of the photographic image having a first resolution as stored in the image pyramid; and (g) in response to an input to zoom into the photographic image, displaying, by the one or more computing devices, a different image version of the photographic image stored in the image pyramid, the different image version having a second greater resolution than the first resolution of the given image version initially displayed.