remove leaflet heatmap layer with rCharts and shiny

Question

I want to be able to let users see different heatmaps based on a parameter's choice in shiny, using rCharts and Leaflet.

The first time the heatmap is displayed it looks great.
All the other times the heat map is displayed as layers on top of the first one.

How to reset the leaf map so that only the current layer / heat map is displayed?

This sample code is based on the notorious Ramnath's Houston crime demo.

library(shiny)
library(rCharts)
library(rjson)
library(data.table)
##   
crimedt <- as.data.table(na.omit(ggmap::crime[,c("address","offense","lon","lat")]))
crimedt <- crimedt[,offense:=as.character(offense)]
setkey(crimedt, lat,lon,offense)
crime_cdt <- crimedt[, .(count = length(address))
                          , by = .(lat,lon,offense)]
setkey(crime_cdt,offense)
seLabels <- unique(crime_cdt$offense)

#
runApp(list(
  ui =   tabPanel("main", fluidPage(
    h4("Crime hotmap"),
    column(3,
    selectInput("slCrime", "Choose Crime Type:",
                                            seLabels, seLabels[1])
    ),
    column(9,
           chartOutput('baseMap','leaflet'),
           tags$style('.leaflet {height: 500px;}'),
           tags$head(tags$script(src="http://leaflet.github.io/Leaflet.heat/dist/leaflet-heat.js"))
            , uiOutput('datamap')
    )
  )),
server = function(input, output, session) {
output$baseMap<-renderMap({
baseMap <- Leaflet$new()
mlon <- mean(crime_cdt$lon)
mlat <- mean(crime_cdt$lat)
baseMap$setView(c(mlat,mlon),9)
baseMap$tileLayer(provider="OpenStreetMap")
baseMap
 })
output$datamap<-renderUI({ 
    if(is.null(input$slCrime)) { return() }
    q = quote(input$slCrime)
    crime_cdt <- crime_cdt[eval(q), .(lat, lon, count)]
    maxdat <- max(crime_cdt$count)
  arrdat <- toJSONArray2(crime_cdt, json=F, names=F)
  jsdat <- rjson::toJSON(arrdat)

tags$body(tags$script(HTML(sprintf("
var addressPoints = %s
var maxval = %f
var heat = L.heatLayer(addressPoints, {maxZoom: 9, radius: 20, blur: 40}).addTo(map)
 </script>",  jsdat, maxdat
))))
})
}
))

Answer 1

The answer to my problem has been given brilliantly by paulyeno.

This piece of javascript substitute the lines above:

tags$body(tags$script(HTML(sprintf("
var addressPoints = %s
if (typeof heat === typeof undefined) {
            heat = L.heatLayer(addressPoints, {maxZoom: 9, radius: 20, blur: 40})
            heat.addTo(map)
          } else {
            heat.setOptions({maxZoom: 9, radius: 20, blur: 40})
            heat.setLatLngs(addressPoints)
          }
 </script>",  jsdat

Please note that currently the above code runs in shiny 0.10.1 but not in 0.10.2.1 (bug reported to shiny & rCharts)