swri-robotics/mapviz

Mapviz – 2‑D visualisation for ROS

What it is – Mapviz is a ROS‑based visualisation application, similar in spirit to RViz, but specialised for 2‑D data such as maps, point clouds projected onto a plane, and other planar sensor streams. It is built as a plug‑in framework so developers can add custom visualisers.

Why it matters – Robotics projects that run on ROS (Robot Operating System) often need to inspect localisation, mapping, and navigation data in real time. A lightweight 2‑D viewer lets engineers debug algorithms, verify sensor fusion, and demonstrate results without the overhead of a full 3‑D visualiser.

Key points from the README

• Plug‑in architecture – Plugins are loaded at runtime, allowing new visualisers to be added without changing the core program.
• Threaded UI – Since version 4.0.0 the UI and ROS callbacks run on separate threads, improving responsiveness but requiring plugins to follow the new thread‑safe API (see the documentation for migration details).
• Header convention – All public headers were renamed from .h to .hpp to match ROS coding standards.
• Supported ROS 2 distributions – Pre‑built binaries are provided for the current ROS 2 releases (Humble, Jazzy, Kilted, Lyrical, Rolling) on both amd64 and arm64 architectures.
• Continuous integration – GitHub Actions run per‑distribution CI jobs, and the ROS build farm supplies binary packages, so users can install with apt from the ROS index.
• Documentation – A web site (https://swri-robotics.github.io/mapviz/) gives usage instructions and examples of plugins that work with the new threading model.

Typical workflow

1. Install the mapviz package from the ROS 2 apt repository for your distribution.
2. Launch the node (ros2 run mapviz mapviz).
3. Load one or more plugins (e.g., a map layer, a vehicle pose visualiser) via the UI.
4. Publish the corresponding ROS topics from your robot or simulation; Mapviz renders them live.

Status – Actively maintained, with CI badges showing successful builds for each ROS 2 release. The project follows ROS conventions and provides binary packages for both x86_64 and ARM64, making it ready for desktop workstations as well as embedded robot computers.

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TL;DR – Mapviz is a ROS 2‑compatible, plug‑in‑driven 2‑D visualiser for robot data, kept up‑to‑date with recent ROS releases and offering pre‑built binaries for easy installation.