[android] app freeze when drawing lots of markerviews

[joaopedro1520]

Hello, since version 5.1.0-5.12 when drawing ~100-300 markerviewoptions the app shows few icons with big icons and then freezes while trying to add all others for a good 5 seconds.
The code i use:

MarkerViewOptions options = new MarkerViewOptions().position(new LatLng(mapObject.getLatitude (), mapObject.getLongitude())).icon(UIUtils.getIcon(getAppCtx(), mapObject.getMarkerIcon(false, getAppCtx()))); mMapboxMap.addMarker(options);

Platform: Android
Mapbox SDK version: 5.1.0-5.1.2

[Guardiola31337]

@joaopedro1520 thank you for reaching out and reporting your problem.
Similar issue was reported in #9026
👀 #9026 (comment)

BTW, if you move Icon creation out of the for loop it works fine.
Actually, if you don't need to create a different Icon each time, you should implement it like this:

public void addMarkers() {
    // Create Icon once so memory isn't waste it
    IconFactory iconFactory = IconFactory.getInstance(MainActivity.this);
    Drawable drawable = ContextCompat.getDrawable(MainActivity.this, R.drawable.poi);
    Bitmap bitmap = ((BitmapDrawable) drawable).getBitmap();
    Icon icon = iconFactory.fromBitmap(bitmap);
    //
    for (int i=0; i<MARKERS_CNT; i++) {
        Random r = new Random();
        double lat = r.nextDouble() * 50;
        double lon = r.nextDouble() * 50;
          
        Marker marker = mapBoxMap.addMarker(new MarkerOptions()
                .position(new LatLng(lat, lon))
                .icon(icon));
    }
}

☝️ is using Markers but the same applies to MarkerViews.

How are you creating the MarkerViews? If there is any sample or pseudo code you can provide, that would also be really helpful.

[joaopedro1520]

The function i posted above is inside a for cycle for marker creation. I have different icons that i need to create depending on a mapObject

[Guardiola31337]

@joaopedro1520 👀 #9026 (comment) that might help

I create icon before loop and it works fine. But if you need use different icons for markers I recommended divide objects into several parts and call several loop.

BTW, did you try using Markers and MarkerOption instead? It performs better.

Another option would be using Symbols. It’s even more optimal than Markers. Symbols are part of the Mapbox style specification and allow to SymbolLayers to show icons/text labels on the map. 👀 the SymbolLayerActivity example for further information.

[joaopedro1520]

Yeah I tried using them but they don't fit my needs. The thing is that on the previous versions it worked fine

[Guardiola31337]

Hey @joaopedro1520

We're moving from an Android SDK View to a core implementation. Progress on the implementation in #9782

As a workaround, you could implement that behavior from your side 👀 the implementation details in #9782 or wait until that PR lands.

Eventually, that will be implemented as a plugin 👉 mapbox/mapbox-plugins-android#7

[tobrun]

MarkerView is going to be deprecated with #9782. We are no longer maintaining this API and will remove it in future versions of the SDK. As noted in the deprecation message. We are advising users to leverage SymbolLayer instead (you can use the sample code in #9782 to convert Android SDK views to an Image to be used as a Symbol). While we no longer maintain the API we are happy to accept any PRs on it.

[joaopedro1520]

@tobrun I followed the symbol layer approach and its indeed faster drawing the markers on map. The problem is that after you add ~1000 the map becomes really slow when performing gestures. I ended up using MarkerOptions and needed to adapt few things so my app can support it. The symbol layer approach is good for some markers but for many it makes the map slow

[tobrun]

@joaopedro1520 that shouldn't happen, can you add some code on how you are creating/adding your layer? A good reference implementation for a symbollayer with different images can be found here. Since you are talking about 1000 markers, have you tried using clustering?

[joaopedro1520]

@tobrun this was my approach, I might be doing something wrong but i followed the implementation you posted.

I added 1000 markers for testing performance against markerview.

`

                for (MapObject tmpObject : data) {

                    Random rand = new Random();

                    FeatureCollection markers = FeatureCollection.fromFeatures(new Feature[] {Feature.fromGeometry(Point.fromCoordinates(new double[]{tmpObject.getLongitude(), tmpObject.getLatitude()}))});
                    int n = rand.nextInt(5000000) + 1;

                    Source source = new GeoJsonSource(GENERATED_SYMBOL_SOURCE_ID + n, markers);
                    mMapboxMap.addSource(source);

                    ImageView imageView = new ImageView(getAppCtx());
                    imageView.setImageResource(R.drawable.mapbox_marker_icon_default);


                    // create bitmap from view
                    String iconId = GENERATED_SYMBOL_IMAGE_ID_BASE + tmpObject.getId();
                    mMapboxMap.addImage(iconId,SymbolGenerator.generate(imageView) );

                    // create layer for bitmap and filter source on name
                    String layerId = GENERATED_SYMBOL_LAYER_ID_BASE + tmpObject.getId();
                    layerIds.add(layerId);
                    mMapboxMap.addLayer(new SymbolLayer(layerId, GENERATED_SYMBOL_SOURCE_ID+n)
                            .withProperties(
                                    iconImage(iconId),
                                    iconAllowOverlap(false)
                            )
                    );


                }

`