ros2-map-zone-painter

Interactive tool for painting keepout and speed filter zones on ROS2 PGM map files.

Overview

This tool lets you draw restricted areas directly on your robot's map using polygon or brush modes. It produces two separate mask files compatible with the ROS2 Navigation2 (Nav2) costmap system:

• Keepout mask — hard no-go zones (black pixels)
• Speed filter mask — zones where the robot slows down (gray pixels)

Demo

Polygon Mode

Brush Mode

Requirements

pip install opencv-python numpy

Usage

python3 painter.py --in my_map.pgm --out_keep keepout_mask.pgm --out_speed speed_mask.pgm

Argument	Default	Description
--in	my_map.pgm	Input map file
--out_keep	keepout_mask.pgm	Keepout zone output
--out_speed	speed_mask.pgm	Speed filter zone output

Controls

General

Key / Action	Description
k	Switch to keepout color (black)
g	Switch to speed filter color (gray)
b	Toggle between polygon and brush mode
s	Save and exit
ESC	Exit without saving
Scroll wheel	Zoom in / out
Right click + drag	Pan

Polygon Mode

Key / Action	Description
Left click	Add a point
Left click on existing point + drag	Move a point
ENTER	Fill the polygon
u	Undo last point
c	Clear the current polygon area
r	Reset all polygon points

Brush Mode

Key / Action	Description
Left click + drag	Paint
Right click + drag	Erase
Brush size trackbar	Adjust brush size (px)
c	Clear entire mask for current color

Output Format

File	Content
keepout_mask.pgm	Original map + keepout areas painted black (0)
speed_mask.pgm	Original map + speed zones painted gray (128), all black pixels converted to white

The speed mask has all black pixels (walls + keepout) converted to white so Nav2 only sees the gray speed filter zones — no unintended obstacles.

Nav2 Integration

Use the output files as costmap filter masks in your Nav2 configuration:

# keepout_filter.yaml
keepout_filter:
  ros__parameters:
    enabled: True
    filter_info_topic: "/costmap_filter_info"
    mask_topic: "/keepout_filter_mask"

# speed_filter.yaml
speed_filter:
  ros__parameters:
    enabled: True
    filter_info_topic: "/costmap_filter_info"
    mask_topic: "/speed_filter_mask"

MIT License © 2026 Adil NAS