diff --git a/src/d3/d3Renderer.js b/src/d3/d3Renderer.js
index e24b90d8c6..3573bf1471 100644
--- a/src/d3/d3Renderer.js
+++ b/src/d3/d3Renderer.js
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ var d3Renderer = function (arg) {
       m_diagonal = null,
       m_scale = 1,
       m_transform = {dx: 0, dy: 0, rx: 0, ry: 0, rotation: 0},
-      m_renderAnimFrameRef = null,
       m_renderIds = {},
       m_removeIds = {},
       m_svg = null,
@@ -509,9 +508,7 @@ var d3Renderer = function (arg) {
       m_this._renderFeature(id, parentId);
     } else {
       m_renderIds[id] = true;
-      if (m_renderAnimFrameRef === null) {
-        m_renderAnimFrameRef = window.requestAnimationFrame(m_this._renderFrame);
-      }
+      m_this.layer().map().scheduleAnimationFrame(m_this._renderFrame);
     }
   };
 
@@ -524,7 +521,6 @@ var d3Renderer = function (arg) {
     m_removeIds = {};
     var ids = m_renderIds;
     m_renderIds = {};
-    m_renderAnimFrameRef = null;
     for (id in ids) {
       if (ids.hasOwnProperty(id)) {
         m_this._renderFeature(id);
@@ -578,9 +574,7 @@ var d3Renderer = function (arg) {
   ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   this._removeFeature = function (id) {
     m_removeIds[id] = true;
-    if (m_renderAnimFrameRef === null) {
-      m_renderAnimFrameRef = window.requestAnimationFrame(m_this._renderFrame);
-    }
+    m_this.layer().map().scheduleAnimationFrame(m_this._renderFrame);
     delete m_features[id];
     if (m_renderIds[id]) {
       delete m_renderIds[id];
diff --git a/src/gl/polygonFeature.js b/src/gl/polygonFeature.js
index 443827e3c7..8c12bd6b66 100644
--- a/src/gl/polygonFeature.js
+++ b/src/gl/polygonFeature.js
@@ -340,11 +340,11 @@ var gl_polygonFeature = function (arg) {
   ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   this._update = function (opts) {
     if (opts && opts.mayDelay) {
-      m_updateAnimFrameRef = window.requestAnimationFrame(this._update);
+      m_updateAnimFrameRef = m_this.layer().map().scheduleAnimationFrame(m_this._update);
       return;
     }
     if (m_updateAnimFrameRef) {
-      window.cancelAnimationFrame(m_updateAnimFrameRef);
+      m_this.layer().map().scheduleAnimationFrame(m_this._update, 'remove');
       m_updateAnimFrameRef = null;
     }
     s_update.call(m_this);
diff --git a/src/gl/quadFeature.js b/src/gl/quadFeature.js
index e0f105362b..54c594daca 100644
--- a/src/gl/quadFeature.js
+++ b/src/gl/quadFeature.js
@@ -239,6 +239,7 @@ var gl_quadFeature = function (arg) {
     if (m_clrModelViewUniform) {
       m_clrModelViewUniform.setOrigin(m_quads.origin);
     }
+    m_this._updateTextures();
     m_this.buildTime().modified();
   };
 
@@ -330,8 +331,6 @@ var gl_quadFeature = function (arg) {
         opacity = 1,
         crop = {x: 1, y: 1}, quadcrop;
 
-    m_this._updateTextures();
-
     context.bindBuffer(vgl.GL.ARRAY_BUFFER, m_glBuffers.imgQuadsPosition);
     $.each(m_quads.imgQuads, function (idx, quad) {
       if (!quad.image) {
diff --git a/src/gl/vglRenderer.js b/src/gl/vglRenderer.js
index 5525748dc2..21288d1995 100644
--- a/src/gl/vglRenderer.js
+++ b/src/gl/vglRenderer.js
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ var vglRenderer = function (arg) {
       m_viewer = null,
       m_width = 0,
       m_height = 0,
-      m_renderAnimFrameRef = null,
       m_lastZoom,
+      m_updateCamera = false,
       s_init = this._init,
       s_exit = this._exit;
 
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ var vglRenderer = function (arg) {
     m_this.canvas().attr('height', h);
     renderWindow.positionAndResize(x, y, w, h);
 
-    m_this._updateRendererCamera();
+    m_updateCamera = true;
     m_this._render();
 
     return m_this;
@@ -133,10 +133,13 @@ var vglRenderer = function (arg) {
    */
   ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   this._render = function () {
-    if (m_renderAnimFrameRef) {
-      window.cancelAnimationFrame(m_renderAnimFrameRef);
-    }
-    m_renderAnimFrameRef = window.requestAnimationFrame(this._renderFrame);
+    /* If we are already scheduled to render, don't schedule again.  Rather,
+     * mark that we should render after other animation frame requests occur.
+     * It would be nice if we could just reschedule the call by removing and
+     * readding the animation frame request, but this doesn't work for if the
+     * reschedule occurs during another animation frame callback (it then waits
+     * until a subsequent frame). */
+    m_this.layer().map().scheduleAnimationFrame(this._renderFrame, true);
     return m_this;
   };
 
@@ -144,7 +147,10 @@ var vglRenderer = function (arg) {
    * This clears the render timer and actually renders.
    */
   this._renderFrame = function () {
-    m_renderAnimFrameRef = null;
+    if (m_updateCamera) {
+      m_updateCamera = false;
+      m_this._updateRendererCamera();
+    }
     m_viewer.render();
   };
 
@@ -229,7 +235,7 @@ var vglRenderer = function (arg) {
   // produce a pan
   m_this.layer().geoOn(geo_event.pan, function (evt) {
     void (evt);
-    m_this._updateRendererCamera();
+    m_updateCamera = true;
   });
 
   // Connect to parallelprojection event
@@ -242,10 +248,11 @@ var vglRenderer = function (arg) {
       if (!vglRenderer || !vglRenderer.camera()) {
         console.log('Parallel projection event triggered on unconnected VGL ' +
                     'renderer.');
+        return;
       }
       camera = vglRenderer.camera();
       camera.setEnableParallelProjection(evt.parallelProjection);
-      m_this._updateRendererCamera();
+      m_updateCamera = true;
     }
   });
 
diff --git a/src/map.js b/src/map.js
index 6160de52b0..0e24298322 100644
--- a/src/map.js
+++ b/src/map.js
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ var sceneObject = require('./sceneObject');
  * @param {geo.camera?} camera The camera to control the view
  * @param {geo.mapInteractor?} interactor The UI event handler
  * @param {geo.clock?} clock The clock used to synchronize time events
+ * @param {array} [animationQueue] An array used to synchonize animations.  If
+ *   specified, this should be an empty array or the same array as passed to
+ *   other map instances.
  * @param {boolean} [autoResize=true] Adjust map size on window resize
  * @param {boolean} [clampBoundsX=false] Prevent panning outside of the
  *   maximum bounds in the horizontal direction.
@@ -127,6 +130,7 @@ var map = function (arg) {
       m_clampBoundsX,
       m_clampBoundsY,
       m_clampZoom,
+      m_animationQueue = arg.animationQueue || [],
       m_origin,
       m_scale = {x: 1, y: 1, z: 1}; // constant and ignored for the moment
 
@@ -1229,7 +1233,7 @@ var map = function (arg) {
       }
       m_this.rotation(p[3], undefined, true);
 
-      window.requestAnimationFrame(anim);
+      m_this.scheduleAnimationFrame(anim);
     }
 
     m_this.geoTrigger(geo_event.transitionstart, opts);
@@ -1245,7 +1249,7 @@ var map = function (arg) {
     } else if (animTime) {
       anim(animTime);
     } else {
-      window.requestAnimationFrame(anim);
+      m_this.scheduleAnimationFrame(anim);
     }
     return m_this;
   };
@@ -1566,6 +1570,56 @@ var map = function (arg) {
     return m_this;
   };
 
+  /**
+   * Instead of each function using window.requestAnimationFrame, schedule all
+   * such frames here.  This allows the callbacks to be reordered or removed as
+   * needed and reduces overhead in Chrome a small amount.  Also, if the
+   * animation queue is shared between map instances, the callbacks will be
+   * called as one, providing better synchronization.
+   *
+   * @param {function} callback: function to call during the animation frame.
+   *    It is called with an animation epoch, exactly as requestAnimationFrame.
+   * @param {string|boolean} action: falsy to only add the callback if it is
+   *    not already scheduled.  'remove' to remove the callback (use this
+   *    instead of cancelAnimationFrame).  Any other truthy value moves the
+   *    callback to the end of the list.
+   * @returns {integer} An integer as returned by window.requestAnimationFrame.
+   */
+  this.scheduleAnimationFrame = function (callback, action) {
+    if (!m_animationQueue.length) {
+      /* By refering to requestAnimationFrame as a property of window, versus
+       * explicitly using window.requestAnimationFrame, we prevent the
+       * stripping of 'window' off of the reference and allow our tests to
+       * override this if needed. */
+      m_animationQueue.push(window['requestAnimationFrame'](processAnimationFrame));
+    }
+    var pos = m_animationQueue.indexOf(callback, 1);
+    if (pos >= 0) {
+      if (!action) {
+        return;
+      }
+      m_animationQueue.splice(pos, 1);
+      if (action === 'remove') {
+        return;
+      }
+    }
+    m_animationQueue.push(callback);
+    return m_animationQueue[0];
+  };
+
+  /**
+   * Sevice the callback during an animation frame.  This uses splice to modify
+   * the animationQueue to allow multiple map instances to share the queue.
+   */
+  function processAnimationFrame() {
+    var queue = m_animationQueue.splice(0, m_animationQueue.length);
+
+    /* The first entry is the reference to the window.requestAnimationFrame. */
+    for (var i = 1; i < queue.length; i += 1) {
+      queue[i].apply(this, arguments);
+    }
+  }
+
   ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   //
   // The following are some private methods for interacting with the camera.
diff --git a/src/mapInteractor.js b/src/mapInteractor.js
index 82981f8904..fa7ffc64bc 100644
--- a/src/mapInteractor.js
+++ b/src/mapInteractor.js
@@ -1431,11 +1431,11 @@ var mapInteractor = function (args) {
       }
 
       if (m_state.handler) {
-        window.requestAnimationFrame(m_state.handler);
+        m_this.map().scheduleAnimationFrame(m_state.handler);
       }
     };
     if (m_state.handler) {
-      window.requestAnimationFrame(m_state.handler);
+      m_this.map().scheduleAnimationFrame(m_state.handler);
     }
   };
 
diff --git a/src/util/init.js b/src/util/init.js
index 5d0ab28c66..297c44d6c4 100644
--- a/src/util/init.js
+++ b/src/util/init.js
@@ -781,7 +781,7 @@
       } else if (!stop && !m_originalRequestAnimationFrame) {
         m_originalRequestAnimationFrame = window.requestAnimationFrame;
         window.requestAnimationFrame = function (callback) {
-          m_originalRequestAnimationFrame.call(window, function (timestamp) {
+          return m_originalRequestAnimationFrame.call(window, function (timestamp) {
             var track = m_timingData.requestAnimationFrame, recent;
             /* Some environments have unsynchronized performance and time
              * counters.  The nowDelta factor compensates for this.  For
diff --git a/tests/cases/d3GraphFeature.js b/tests/cases/d3GraphFeature.js
index ee4ff01663..104b25392b 100644
--- a/tests/cases/d3GraphFeature.js
+++ b/tests/cases/d3GraphFeature.js
@@ -20,12 +20,12 @@ describe('d3 graph feature', function () {
     var map, layer, feature;
 
     it('Setup map', function () {
+      mockAnimationFrame();
       map = geo.map({node: '#map-d3-graph-feature', center: [0, 0], zoom: 3});
       layer = map.createLayer('feature', {'renderer': 'd3'});
     });
 
     it('Add features to a layer', function () {
-      mockAnimationFrame();
       var selection, nodes;
 
       nodes = [
diff --git a/tests/cases/d3PointFeature.js b/tests/cases/d3PointFeature.js
index d4ca8e5f5b..46a6bf4793 100644
--- a/tests/cases/d3PointFeature.js
+++ b/tests/cases/d3PointFeature.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ describe('d3 point feature', function () {
     var map, width = 800, height = 600, layer, feature1, feature2;
 
     it('Setup map', function () {
+      mockAnimationFrame();
       map = geo.map({node: '#map-d3-point-feature', center: [0, 0], zoom: 3});
       layer = map.createLayer('feature', {'renderer': 'd3'});
 
@@ -27,7 +28,6 @@ describe('d3 point feature', function () {
     });
 
     it('Add features to a layer', function () {
-      mockAnimationFrame();
       var selection;
       feature1 = layer.createFeature('point', {selectionAPI: true})
         .data([{y: 0, x: 0}, {y: 10, x: 0}, {y: 0, x: 10}])
diff --git a/tests/cases/d3VectorFeature.js b/tests/cases/d3VectorFeature.js
index aa3f65e500..357bf25cc5 100644
--- a/tests/cases/d3VectorFeature.js
+++ b/tests/cases/d3VectorFeature.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ describe('d3 vector feature', function () {
   var map, layer, feature1;
 
   it('Create a map with a d3 feature layer', function () {
+    mockAnimationFrame();
     d3.select('body').append('div').attr('id', 'map-d3-vector');
     map = geo.map({node: '#map-d3-vector',
       center: [0, 0],
@@ -36,7 +37,6 @@ describe('d3 vector feature', function () {
   });
 
   it('Add features to a layer', function () {
-    mockAnimationFrame();
     var vectorLines, featureGroup, markers;
     feature1 = layer.createFeature('vector')
     .data([{y: 0, x: 0}, {y: 10, x: 0}, {y: 0, x: 10}])
diff --git a/tests/cases/map.js b/tests/cases/map.js
index 3c9115ac7a..d470526a9d 100644
--- a/tests/cases/map.js
+++ b/tests/cases/map.js
@@ -390,8 +390,8 @@ describe('geo.core.map', function () {
       expect(closeToEqual(zc.center, {x: 0, y: 0})).toBe(true);
     });
     it('transition', function () {
-      var m = create_map(), start, wasCalled;
       mockAnimationFrame();
+      var m = create_map(), start, wasCalled;
       expect(m.transition()).toBe(null);
       start = new Date().getTime();
       m.transition({
diff --git a/tests/cases/mapInteractor.js b/tests/cases/mapInteractor.js
index 36fa490ebe..f3ab6585ff 100644
--- a/tests/cases/mapInteractor.js
+++ b/tests/cases/mapInteractor.js
@@ -136,6 +136,9 @@ describe('mapInteractor', function () {
     map.gcs = function (arg) {
       return 'EPSG:3857';
     };
+    map.scheduleAnimationFrame = function (callback) {
+      return window['requestAnimationFrame'](callback);
+    };
     return map;
   }
 
@@ -1327,6 +1330,7 @@ describe('mapInteractor', function () {
   });
 
   it('Test momentum', function () {
+    mockAnimationFrame();
     var map = mockedMap('#mapNode1'), start;
 
     var interactor = geo.mapInteractor({
@@ -1338,7 +1342,6 @@ describe('mapInteractor', function () {
       }],
       throttle: false
     });
-    mockAnimationFrame();
     mockDate();
     // initiate a pan and release
     interactor.simulateEvent(
@@ -1380,6 +1383,7 @@ describe('mapInteractor', function () {
   });
 
   it('Test springback', function () {
+    mockAnimationFrame();
     $('#mapNode1').css({width: '400px', height: '400px'});
     var map = mockedMap('#mapNode1'), start;
 
@@ -1393,7 +1397,6 @@ describe('mapInteractor', function () {
       }],
       throttle: false
     });
-    mockAnimationFrame();
     mockDate();
     // pan past the max bounds
     interactor.simulateEvent(
diff --git a/tests/test-utils.js b/tests/test-utils.js
index b480ee64e3..49aecdcb35 100644
--- a/tests/test-utils.js
+++ b/tests/test-utils.js
@@ -341,6 +341,7 @@ module.exports.mockAnimationFrame = function (mockDate) {
     animFrameIndex += 1;
     var id = animFrameIndex;
     animFrameCallbacks.push({id: id, callback: callback});
+    return id;
   }
 
   /* Replace window.cancelAnimationFrame with this function.