# What do you use for localization and mapping?

**URL:** <https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/what-do-you-use-for-localization-and-mapping/51346>\
**Category:** ROS General\
**Tags:** ros2, slam\
**Created:** [December 10, 2025, 2:32am UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/what-do-you-use-for-localization-and-mapping/51346 "2025-12-10T02:32:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hidmic](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/hidmic/32/3183_2.png) [@hidmic](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/hidmic)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 2:32am UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/what-do-you-use-for-localization-and-mapping/51346/1 "2025-12-10T02:32:22Z")

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Hi folks!

Ditto. There are plenty of options out there these days, and perhaps that (partially?) explains why the choice isn’t as clear cut as it was back when `robot_pose_ekf`, `amcl`, and `karto` or `cartographer` were as much as you could get, at least for mobile robots. GitHub insights and [packages.ros.org](http://packages.ros.org) stats do not tell the whole story, so I come to you for the wisdom of the crowds.

**What are you using? Why?** Not looking for theoretical justifications (+1 if you have them though), some account of a package or library that you fall back often because it’s proven useful is enough.

And I must confess this isn’t pure intellectual curiosity. At [Ekumen](https://ekumenlabs.com/) we’ve been working on [Ekumen-OS/beluga](https://github.com/Ekumen-OS/beluga) for some time now, and we’ve crossed paths with unexpected users more than once. Often by chance. So if you are using it we definitely want to hear from you too.

Thanks in advance!

PS: it sounds like work but it’d be cool to have something like a community tech radar for stuff like this.

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**Author:** ![Gglaspell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Gglaspell](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/Gglaspell)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2025, 1:18pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/what-do-you-use-for-localization-and-mapping/51346/2 "2025-12-10T13:18:58Z")

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Here are links to our technical reports in 2025 (mix of ROS 1 and ROS 2):

- **Using the Robot Operating System for uncrewed surface vehicle navigation to avoid beaching** [https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/items/faee5d9e-b78e-4022-b794-3898dbf02690](https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/items/faee5d9e-b78e-4022-b794-3898dbf02690)

- **Autonomous robotics development in Robot Operating System (ROS) 2 Humble** [https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/items/99cfad82-ccd5-40d8-bfa3-fcafc8294f2a](https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/items/99cfad82-ccd5-40d8-bfa3-fcafc8294f2a)

- **Robot Operating System innovations in autonomous navigation** [https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/items/0d62927a-2254-4843-a9ce-e7e6c02d5834](https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/items/0d62927a-2254-4843-a9ce-e7e6c02d5834)

- **Exploring lidar odometry within the robot operating system** [https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/items/46a1bdbf-8259-4361-88c8-63e0d27dbac5](https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/items/46a1bdbf-8259-4361-88c8-63e0d27dbac5)

Older reports can be found here: [Published Technical Reports · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/gglaspell/e85b9eb328c5c1e0b152bad01b259186)

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**Author:** ![vrichard](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/vrichard/32/25122_2.png) [@vrichard](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/vrichard)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2025, 12:07am UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/what-do-you-use-for-localization-and-mapping/51346/3 "2025-12-18T00:07:23Z")

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If you are looking for generating 3D maps using LIDARs, I would suggest you to have a look at [GitHub - koide3/glim: GLIM: versatile and extensible point cloud-based 3D localization and mapping framework](https://github.com/koide3/glim). IMHO this is currently the best open source LIDAR based SLAM framework out there.