Clustering: Ability to set a BitmapDescriptor cache for custom cluster items (2.11 Clustering composable)

[Shusshu]

Feature request

Add the ability to cache Bitmapdescriptor's to make the initial drawing smooth as not every single marker needs to recreate views

This is for both clusterContent & clusterItemContent

Solutions:

1. Ability to specify a custom renderer (extending DefaultClusterRenderer)

Opening up the cluster manager to specify our own renderer would allow an easy way to support this feature by giving the developer the ability to build it himself

2. Specify some cache keys in order to avoid recreating the bitmap descriptor for identical items (in renderViewToBitmapDescriptor)

3. ...

More context

Currently, I have implemented Clustering using MapEffect and I was able to make my redrawing experience as smooth as possible by recreating only different markers

For example I have 3000+ points but in practice only +-20 different item markers

I apply the same caching for cluster groups by defining a few buckets.

The solution I currently have in mind also means I do not plan to use Compose to create markers & clusters, that's fine as my goal is to make the experience as smooth as possible.

[wangela]

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[DSteve595]

Adding more options for cluster rendering is doable, but we should be very careful about it.

Ability to specify a custom renderer (extending DefaultClusterRenderer)

DefaultClusterRenderer offers a not-ideal abstraction for rendering custom icons. It's not an API I think should be exposed to Compose consumers.

Specify some cache keys in order to avoid recreating the bitmap descriptor for identical items (in renderViewToBitmapDescriptor)

By "identical items", do you mean items that render the same icon but aren't the same marker? If so, agreed some keying may be good here.

[Shusshu]

Indeed I agree it's not a good API for compose consumers, having said that we need a solution to improve performance.

The cache keying is a possible approach and yes I meant multiple map markers using the same icon.

[NielsLindberg]

What if Clustering(items = ) had a secondary constructor where items = List< BitmapCacheKeyInterface > with interface BitmapCacheKeyInterface {
val cacheKey: String
}

And then save / load generated Bitmaps to a map with those keys.

But yeah this performance request is also in high demand from here :p. Was also caching bitmaps with the old solution using a cacheKey.

[DSteve595]

It's an option, but I'd like to explore optimizations that don't require keying first, for simplicity.

[Shusshu]

Have you explored different paths regarding optimizations that could be made without introducing complexity?