renderdused

renderdused is a conceptual term used to describe a distributed rendering workflow in which the renderd daemon is used to manage and assign tile rendering jobs to multiple worker processes or nodes. The term is commonly encountered in discussions about scalable map tile servers and is not tied to a single software package.

In this model, a central controller issues rendering tasks to a pool of renderd instances, which each manage a local map render engine (such as Mapnik) and a tile cache. The system typically includes a task queue, a coordination layer, and a caching layer to minimize duplicate work.

Workflow: An incoming tile request triggers a task in the queue. The controller assigns the task to an available renderd node; the node renders the tile using its configured style and data sources, stores the result in a shared or distributed cache, and serves the tile to the requester or holds it for further distribution.

Implementation notes: renderdused relies on standard renderd APIs and may integrate with existing tile servers and caches (for example Nginx/TileServer, mod_tile). It emphasizes fault tolerance, load balancing, and metric collection. Because it spans multiple processes or machines, configuration and monitoring can be more complex than a single renderd setup.

See also: renderd, Mapnik, tile caching, slippy map. History and usage: The term appears in community discussions and tutorials as a generic description for distributed renderd-based tiling rather than as a distinct, official project.