Tilecentric

Tilecentric is a descriptive term used in various technical and design contexts to denote a focus on tiles as the primary units of processing, storage, or composition. The exact meaning depends on the domain, but common threads include modularity, locality, and scalable tiling.

In computer graphics, tile-centric rendering refers to pipelines that process frames in small rectangular tiles rather than pixel-wide passes. This tiling improves cache locality, reduces memory bandwidth, and can lower power consumption. Tile-based rendering, widely adopted in mobile and embedded GPUs, uses per-tile shading and reuse of pixels across adjacent tiles; a tile-centric approach to shading algorithms emphasizes data reuse and on-chip buffers.

In geographic information systems and web mapping, a tile-centric strategy serves map data as a grid of image or vector tiles at fixed zoom levels. Clients request only the tiles needed for the current view, improving latency and bandwidth. Tile caching and tiling schemes are central to tile-centric map rendering.

In tiling art or modular design, tile-centric denotes a workflow that uses modular tile units as the fundamental building blocks for patterns and layouts.

Because tilecentric lacks a single formal standard, its exact interpretation varies; readers should consult domain-specific sources.

See also tile-based rendering, tiling, mosaic.