wimblerobotics name: nav2-rviz-tools description: 'Use Nav2 RViz tools and panels. Use when setting initial pose, sending goals, or visualizing costmaps and paths in RViz2.'
Nav2 RViz2 Tools and Visualization
Nav2 RViz Panel
The nav2_rviz_plugins package adds a dedicated panel to RViz2 for controlling Nav2. Add it via: Panels → Add New Panel → nav2_rviz_plugins/Nav2 Panel.
Panel Features
- Startup / Shutdown: Buttons to transition all Nav2 lifecycle nodes (calls lifecycle managers)
- Navigation: Set and send 2D Nav Goals interactively
- Waypoint mode: Toggle waypoint/single-goal mode. In waypoint mode, each "2D Nav Goal" click adds to a queue. Click "Start Waypoint Following" to execute.
- Acummulated waypoints: View list of queued waypoints before execution
- Cancel Navigation: Abort current goal
- Lifecycle indicators: Green/red status for each managed node
Setting Initial Pose (2D Pose Estimate)
Click the 2D Pose Estimate button in the RViz toolbar, then click and drag on the map to set position and orientation. This publishes to /initialpose topic, which AMCL uses to initialize the particle filter.
Critical: The initial pose must be reasonably close to the robot's actual position for AMCL to converge. If AMCL doesn't converge, the robot's position will jump as particles reconverge.
After setting, watch the AMCL particle cloud (/particlecloud topic) converge. A tight cluster means good localization.
Setting Nav2 Goals
Single Goal
Click Nav2 Goal in the toolbar, then click and drag on the map. The drag direction sets the goal orientation. This sends a NavigateToPose action.
Waypoint Mode
- Check "Waypoint mode" in the Nav2 panel
- Click Nav2 Goal multiple times to place waypoints
- Click "Start Waypoint Following" in the panel
- Or "Start Navigation Through Poses" for smooth traversal
Essential Display Configuration
Map Display
Topic: /map
Color Scheme: map (grey = unknown, white = free, black = occupied)
If map doesn't appear: check QoS. The map server publishes with transient local durability. Set:
Reliability: Reliable
Durability: Transient Local
Global Costmap
Topic: /global_costmap/costmap
Color Scheme: costmap (useful for seeing inflation layers)
Local Costmap
Topic: /local_costmap/costmap
Color Scheme: costmap
Display the local costmap to verify the rolling window is correctly tracking obstacles around the robot.
Global Plan
Type: Path
Topic: /plan
Line Style: Lines
Color: green (or preference)
Local Plan (Controller Trajectory)
Type: Path
Topic: /local_plan
Line Style: Lines
Color: blue
Robot Footprint
Type: Polygon
Topic: /local_costmap/published_footprint
Color: red
AMCL Particle Cloud
Type: PoseArray
Topic: /particlecloud
Shows localization confidence. A tight cluster = good localization. Spread-out particles = poor localization.
Laser Scan Overlay
Type: LaserScan
Topic: /scan
Color Transformer: FlatColor or Intensity
Size: 0.03
Overlaying the laser scan on the map helps verify that AMCL localization is correct—scan points should align with map walls.
TF Display
Type: TF
Show Names: true
Show Axes: true
Frames to show: map, odom, base_link, base_footprint
Essential for debugging transform issues. The map → odom transform comes from AMCL. The odom → base_link transform comes from odometry. If either is missing, navigation will fail.
Useful Additional Displays
PointCloud2 (Depth Camera)
Type: PointCloud2
Topic: /camera/depth/points
Color Transformer: AxisColor (Z axis = height)
Size: 0.01
Robot Model
Type: RobotModel
Description Source: Topic
Description Topic: /robot_description
Marker Arrays (for debugging)
Type: MarkerArray
Topic: /marker (or custom topics from your nodes)
Collision Monitor Polygons
Type: Polygon
Topic: /polygon_stop (stop zone)
Topic: /polygon_slowdown (slowdown zone)
Topic: /polygon_approach (approach zone)
Visualizing collision monitor zones helps verify they're correctly sized and positioned.
Recommended RViz Configuration
A production Nav2 RViz config should include at minimum:
Displays:
- Class: rviz_default_plugins/Map
Topic: /map
- Class: rviz_default_plugins/Map
Topic: /global_costmap/costmap
Color Scheme: costmap
- Class: rviz_default_plugins/Map
Topic: /local_costmap/costmap
Color Scheme: costmap
- Class: rviz_default_plugins/Path
Topic: /plan
- Class: rviz_default_plugins/Path
Topic: /local_plan
- Class: rviz_default_plugins/LaserScan
Topic: /scan
- Class: rviz_default_plugins/TF
- Class: rviz_default_plugins/RobotModel
- Class: rviz_default_plugins/Polygon
Topic: /local_costmap/published_footprint
Save as .rviz config file and load via:
rviz2 -d my_nav_config.rviz
Or in launch file:
Node(
package='rviz2',
executable='rviz2',
arguments=['-d', rviz_config_path],
)
Common Issues
"No map received" Warning
Cause: QoS mismatch between map server and RViz map display. Fix: In the Map display properties, set:
- Reliability: Reliable
- Durability: Transient Local
The map server publishes with transient local QoS so late subscribers still receive the map. If RViz uses volatile durability (default), it misses the map.
Costmap Not Updating
Cause: The costmap topic has a different QoS than RViz expects.
Fix: Check the costmap display QoS settings. Also verify the costmap node is in the active lifecycle state.
TF "No transform from [map] to [base_link]"
Cause: Either AMCL (map→odom) or odometry (odom→base_link) is not publishing.
Fix: Check ros2 run tf2_tools view_frames to see the TF tree. Ensure both localization and odometry nodes are running.
Path Display Shows Old Path
The /plan topic updates each time a new path is computed. If the display appears stale, check that replanning is happening (the RateController in the BT controls replanning frequency).
RViz Crashes on Launch
Often caused by bad config files or GPU driver issues. Try:
rviz2 --ros-args -p use_sim_time:=true # Without config file
Saving Poses from RViz for Waypoints
Use the "Publish Point" tool (click on map) to get coordinates printed to /clicked_point topic:
ros2 topic echo /clicked_point
Record coordinates and use them in your patrol waypoint definitions.