autoware_pointcloud_divider

This is a tool for processing pcd files, and it can perform the following functions:

• Dividing point clouds
• Downsampling point clouds
• Generating metadata to efficiently handle the divided point clouds

Supported Data Format

Currently, only pcl::PointXYZ and pcl::PointXYZI are supported. Any PCD will be loaded as those two types.

This tool can be used with files that have data fields other than XYZI (e.g., XYZRGB) and files that only contain XYZ.

• Data fields other than XYZI are ignored during loading.
• When loading XYZ-only data, the intensity field is assigned 0.

Installation

cd <PATH_TO_pilot-auto.*> # OR <PATH_TO_autoware>
cd src/
git clone git@github.com:autowarefoundation/autoware_tools.git
cd ..
colcon build --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --catkin-skip-building-tests --symlink-install --packages-up-to autoware_pointcloud_divider

Usage

• Select directory, process all files found with find $INPUT_DIR -name "*.pcd".

  ros2 launch autoware_pointcloud_divider pointcloud_divider.launch.xml input_pcd_or_dir:=<INPUT_DIR> output_pcd_dir:=<OUTPUT_DIR> prefix:=<PREFIX> [use_large_grid:=true/false] [leaf_size:=<LEAF_SIZE>] [grid_size_x:=<GRID_SIZE_X>] [grid_size_y:=<GRID_SIZE_Y>]
  

INPUT_DIR and OUTPUT_DIR should be specified as absolute paths.

NOTE: The folder OUTPUT_DIR is auto generated. If it already exists, all files within that folder will be deleted before the tool runs. Hence, users should backup the important files in that folder if necessary.

Parameters

{{ json_to_markdown(“map/autoware_pointcloud_divider/schema/pointcloud_divider.schema.json”) }}

How the point cloud is processed.

How the PCD file is named

Parameter example

1. Dividing point clouds without downsampling.

   ros2 launch autoware_pointcloud_divider pointcloud_divider.launch.xml input_pcd_or_dir:=<INPUT_DIR> output_pcd_dir:=<OUTPUT_DIR> prefix:=test leaf_size:=-0.1
   

1. Dividing and downsampling point clouds.

   ros2 launch autoware_pointcloud_divider pointcloud_divider.launch.xml input_pcd_or_dir:=<INPUT_DIR> output_pcd_dir:=<OUTPUT_DIR> prefix:=test
   

Metadata YAML Format

The metadata file is named pointcloud_data_metadata.yaml. It contains the following fields:

• x_resolution: The resolution along the X-axis.
• y_resolution: The resolution along the Y-axis.

Additionally, the file contains entries for individual point cloud files (.pcd files) and their corresponding grid coordinates. The key is the file name, and the value is a list containing the X and Y coordinates of the lower-left corner of the grid cell associated with that file. The grid cell’s boundaries can be calculated using the x_resolution and y_resolution values.

For example:

x_resolution: 100.0
y_resolution: 150.0
A.pcd: [1200, 2500] # -> 1200 <= x <= 1300, 2500 <= y <= 2650
B.pcd: [1300, 2500] # -> 1300 <= x <= 1400, 2500 <= y <= 2650
C.pcd: [1200, 2650] # -> 1200 <= x <= 1300, 2650 <= y <= 2800
D.pcd: [1400, 2650] # -> 1400 <= x <= 1500, 2650 <= y <= 2800

LICENSE

Parts of files grid_info.hpp, pcd_divider.hpp, and pcd_divider.cpp are copied from MapIV’s pointcloud_divider and are under BSD-3-Clauses license. The remaining code are under Apache License 2.0

Changelog for package autoware_pointcloud_divider

0.2.0 (2025-03-24)

0.1.0 (2025-01-28)

• unify version to 0.0.0
• chore: sync files (#11) Co-authored-by: github-actions <<github-actions@github.com>> Co-authored-by: pre-commit-ci[bot] <66853113+pre-commit-ci[bot]\@users.noreply.github.com>
• fix(autoware_pointcloud_divider): fix the image in README.md (#125)
  • Since merge_pcd is not used anymore, fix the image in README.md of autoware_pointcloud_divider

  * style(pre-commit): autofix ---------Co-authored-by: pre-commit-ci[bot] <66853113+pre-commit-ci[bot]\@users.noreply.github.com>

• fix(autoware_pointcloud_divider): fix a bug in the customized pcd reader (#114)
  • Fixed a bug from the customized pcd reader, which makes the reader reads more points than it should do

  * Fixed a spell error ---------

• feat(map): add pointcloud divider and pointcloud merger (#100)
  • Added point cloud merger
  • Update README and remove unused svg file
  • style(pre-commit): autofix
  • Fix pre-commit
  • style(pre-commit): autofix
  • Fix spell check
  • style(pre-commit): autofix
  • Fix pre-commit ci
  • Fix pre-commit ci
  • Fix pre-commit ci
  • Add autoware_ prefix to nodes
  • style(pre-commit): autofix
  • Add autoware_ prefix to pointcloud merger and divider; refactor code; rearrange files
  • Follow autoware directory structure
  • Move parameters to yaml files, create schema json files, and apply clang format
  • Fix an error while reading PCD file
  • style(pre-commit): autofix
  • Fix pre-commit ci
  • Fix pre-commit-optional
  • style(pre-commit): autofix
  • Fix merger's schema file
  • style(pre-commit): autofix
  • Fixed review comments
  • style(pre-commit): autofix

  * Fixed spell check ---------Co-authored-by: pre-commit-ci[bot] <66853113+pre-commit-ci[bot]\@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Yamato Ando <<yamato.ando@gmail.com>>

• Contributors: Anh Nguyen, Yutaka Kondo, awf-autoware-bot[bot]