Position Error Evaluator

Overview

This RViz plugin tool evaluates vehicle position error by measuring deviations from Lanelet2 map lane boundaries and stop lines. It provides interactive line-based measurement functionality with automatic CSV logging and screenshot capture capabilities.

Measurement Process

1. Manual Ground Truth Line Drawing: Users draw lines along actual lane markings and stop lines visible in the pointcloud intensity view
2. Automatic Map Line Detection: The tool automatically detects the closest corresponding line in the Lanelet2 map
3. Error Calculation: Position and orientation error is calculated from the deviation between the drawn ground truth line and the matched map line, revealing localization accuracy on map

The reference lines (ground truth lines) used for measurement are lane markings and stop lines distinguished by the intensity brightness in the pointcloud.

Features

• Interactive Line Measurement: Click-and-drag interface to measure position errors in RViz
• Dual Line Type Support:
  • Stop Line Measurement: Measures X-axis error (longitudinal deviation) from stop lines
  • Lane Boundary Measurement: Measures Y-axis error (lateral deviation) from lane boundaries
• Automatic CSV Export: Timestamped CSV files with measurement data
• Screenshot Integration: Automatic desktop screenshot capture after each measurement
• Real-time Error Display: Visual feedback with colored line indicators
• Lanelet2 Integration: Uses HD map data for accurate reference line detection

Prerequisites

• RViz2 and rviz_common
• Lanelet2 libraries
• Autoware map messages
• LL2 map which accuracy must match the desired precision, and the correct relationships between objects are essential.

• Rosbag data for vehicle pose playback

• System Dependencies:
  • ImageMagick (import command for screenshots)
  • X11 display server
  • Qt5 development libraries(autoware usually includes these)

# Install system dependencies
sudo apt install imagemagick x11-apps

Build Instructions

Adding the usual Autoware installation and build instructions, please do vcs import the repository and build the package.

vcs import < tools.repos
source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
rosdep install -y --from-paths src --ignore-src --rosdistro $ROS_DISTRO
rosdep update
colcon build --packages-up-to autoware_position_error_evaluator

Usage

Basic Operation

1. Launch RViz with Autoware
2. Set pointcloud intensity view:
   • In RViz Display window, select the pointcloud topic (e.g. /sensing/lidar/concatenated/pointcloud) in the Sensing/LiDAR/ConcatenatedPointCloud category
   • Set “Color Transformer” to “Intensity”
   • Adjust “Min Intensity” and “Max Intensity” to highlight lane markings
   • Decay Time can be adjusted to visualize static lane markings better(e.g. set to 1.0)
   • (Optional) Adjust point size for better visibility

   

3. Add the Tool:
   • Go to RViz toolbar
   • Add “Position Error Evaluator Tool”(the arrow icon pointed in the image below)
     1. Click “Add Tool” button (#1 in the image)
     2. Select “PositionErrorEvaluatorTool” from the list pop-up (#2 in the image)

     

4. Load Map Data: Ensure Lanelet2 map is loaded in RViz
5. Stop replay rosbag: Pause the rosbag playback(space key on terminal of rosbag replay) to fix the vehicle pose during measurement
6. Start Measuring:
   • Click to “Position Error Evaluator Tool”
   • Click to start point of line measurement
   • Click again to end point of line measurement
   • Check the measurement result displayed in the terminal
   • (if needed)Delete key to remove last measurement
   • Right-click to reset current measurement
7. Repeat for additional measurements as needed

Important Notes

• Straight sections only: Measurements are limited to straight road sections. Curves or complex-shaped sections cannot be measured accurately.
• Line segment requirements: Drawing line segments that are too short or too far from the target lanelet line may result in incorrect selection or measurement failure. Draw sufficiently long line segments close to the vehicle position on clearly distinguishable lane markings.

Measurement Types

Stop Line Measurement

• Click near a stop line in the map
• Tool automatically detects the closest stop line
• Measures X-error (longitudinal deviation)

File truncated at 100 lines see the full file