1. A computer implemented method for making use of a data structure with a plurality of image based design rules on an electronic circuit design, comprising: accessing one or more layouts of the electronic circuit design or other designs of electronic circuit features; performing an optical rule check or optical proximity correction on at least one of the one or more layouts; identifying a location of interest in the at least one of the one or more layouts based at least in part upon a result of the act of performing the optical rule check or the optical proximity correction; adding one or more pattern images representing the location of interest into the data structure in a computer readable storage medium to form an image based design rule, wherein the image based design rule comprises at least one of the one or more pattern images; and using a processor programmed for performing design rule checking on the electronic circuit design by using at least the image based design rule to determine whether a portion of the electronic circuit design satisfies the image based design rule.