Show HN: I built A GUI for managing waypoints in large-scale robot navigation

#1

Post by ponta17 » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 11:46 AM UTC

When robot navigation scales from hundreds of meters to several kilometers, managing waypoints as raw numeric values quickly becomes painful and error-prone.

This provides a GUI tool that lets you visually edit waypoints on a map, automatically generate them from start and goal positions, and batch-edit multiple waypoints at once, making medium- to large-scale navigation much easier to manage.

Show HN: I built A GUI for managing waypoints in large-scale robot navigation
github.com

Re: Show HN: I built A GUI for managing waypoints in large-scale robot navigation

#2

Post by chfritz » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 5:20 PM UTC

For what kind of robots did you design this? "several kilometers" implies that its not in-doors, but if it's outdoors, then why not just use a regular street-/satellite-map, such as leaflet, where setting points and lines is already built in?

Re: Show HN: I built A GUI for managing waypoints in large-scale robot navigation

#3

Post by ponta17 » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 2:30 AM UTC

chfritz wrote: post #2

For what kind of robots did you design this? "several kilometers" implies that its not in-doors, but if it's outdoors, then why not just use a regular street-/satellite-map, such as leaflet, where setting points and lines is already built in?

Good question.

You're right that Leaflet is great for GPS, but this tool is specifically for robots using SLAM-generated occupancy grids in a local coordinate frame. Even for long-distance navigation, many autonomous systems prefer these maps for higher precision and better integration with their local planners.

Re: Show HN: I built A GUI for managing waypoints in large-scale robot navigation

#4

Post by chfritz » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 2:41 AM UTC

ponta17 wrote: post #3

chfritz wrote: post #2

For what kind of robots did you design this? "several kilometers" implies that its not in-doors, but if it's outdoors, then why not just use a regular street-/satellite-map, such as leaflet, where setting points and lines is already built in?

Good question. You're right that Leaflet is great for GPS, but this tool is specifically for robots using SLAM-generated occupancy grids in a local coordinate frame. Even for long-distance navigation, many autonomous systems prefer these maps for higher precision and better integration with their local planners.

Interesting, I didn't know that! We've built this map display module but always thought of it as something only relevant for indoor robots. Do you think this might be relevant for outdoor as well then? https://transitiverobotics.com/caps/transitive-robotics/maps...

Re: Show HN: I built A GUI for managing waypoints in large-scale robot navigation

#5

Post by ponta17 » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 6:46 AM UTC

chfritz wrote: post #4

ponta17 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question. You're right that Leaflet is great for GPS, but this tool is specifically for robots using SLAM-generated occupancy grids in a local coordinate frame. Even for long-distance navigation, many autonomous systems prefer these maps for higher precision and better integration with their local planners.

Interesting, I didn't know that! We've built this map display module but always thought of it as something only relevant for indoor robots. Do you think this might be relevant for outdoor as well then? https://transitiverobotics.com/caps/transitive-robotics/maps...

Nice work! I think this could be relevant outdoors as well, especially for robots using locally built maps rather than street maps. One challenge I'd expect, though, is real-time visualization of robot locations in outdoor environments, but if it works, it would be very valuable.