We are working on a project using an Ouster LiDAR setup and processing Point Cloud Data (PCD) with ROS2 Humble and Galactic. We visualize this data in RViz2, which allows us to see recordings before and after various filtration levels in real-time.
Now, we want to integrate this setup into RTMaps. I understand that for ROS2, we could use a ROSBridge to implement C++ code and interface with our system, but we haven’t attempted this implementation yet. Has anyone successfully done this, and if so, could you share insights or best practices?
Additionally, I’m not sure how to connect RViz2 to RTMaps. I know that Foxglove has been integrated with RTMaps, but I’m unsure of the next steps to make either of these implementations work.
Has anyone tackled ROS2 and RViz2 integration with RTMaps before? Any guidance or pointers would be greatly appreciated!
You should be able to import ROS2 sensor_msgs/PointCloud2 topics with no problem in RTMaps using the ROS2 subscriber component.
Note that Intempora supports ROS2 Humble and Iron, not Galactic for the moment.
In order to publish data streams from RTMaps to RViz2, you can in turn make use of the ROS2 publisher component in your RTMaps diagrams.
You can refer to the following videos for an indication about how all this works:
Here an example of the new “ROS Node manager” component which can run a ROS node or a ROS graph within an RTMaps component:
And the interface with Foxglove as an alternative to RViz2 to make it work in your web browser
Note 1: before installing the rtmaps_ros2_bridge package in RTMaps (via the RTMaps update site, menu Help | Check for updates), you may have to install the following deb packages from ROS2 : ros_humble_can_msgs and ros_humbler_vision_msgs (or something like that…)
Note 2: make sure the ROS environment is sourced before starting RTMaps and registering the rtmaps_ros2_bridge.pck package.
