Creating New Layers

Creating a new map layer is a great way to achieve a more custom, performant, map design. For example, it might be used to display a scale bar, or overlay a grid.

Check the Plugins List for layers that already implement the behaviour you wish to replicate.

1. Creating A Layer Widget

It starts with a normal StatelessWidget or StatefulWidget, which then starts its widget tree with a widget dependent on whether the layer is designed to be either 'mobile' or 'static', depending on the purpose of the layer. For more information, see Mobile vs Static Layers.

Mobile Layers

class CustomMobileLayer extends StatelessWidget {
  const CustomMobileLayer({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {    
    return MobileLayerTransformer(
      child: // your child here
    );
  }
}

Static Layers

class CustomStaticLayer extends StatelessWidget {
  const CustomStaticLayer({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return SizedBox.expand();
    // and/or
    return Align();
  }
}

2. Hooking Into Inherited State

Then, there are three possible methods that could be used to retrieve separate 'aspects' of the state of the map.

Calling these inside a build method will also cause the layer to rebuild automatically when the depended-on aspects change.

final camera = MapCamera.of(context);
final controller = MapController.of(context);
final options = MapOptions.of(context);

Using these methods will restrict this widget to only being usable inside the context of a FlutterMap.