ROS Data Analyzer

R2026b

Visualize messages from live ROS or ROS 2 topics, bag files, and MCAP files with non-ROS schemas

Since R2023a

Description

The ROS Data Analyzer app allows you to visualize messages from live ROS or ROS 2 topics and bag files. Within the app, you can create multiple viewers to simultaneously visualize different ROS or ROS 2 messages from a live topic or a bag file. Additionally, you can assign a unique tag to any ROS or ROS 2 bag file, serving as an identifier for that file. The app also enables you to bookmark specific events when reviewing messages from a bag file. You can then search any bag file by filtering through tags, bookmarks, or the types of visualizers used, and export this data for further analysis.

The app also supports opening and analyzing MCAP files that contain OMG IDL-based schemas. You can create an adapter that converts a non-ROS schema message into a ROS 2 message type, then visualize the data using the corresponding viewer in the app. You can also view omgidl schema-encoded messages directly using the Message viewer by opening any MCAP file with OMG IDL-encoded topics, browsing the available topics, and inspecting message fields and values without converting the data.

You can open the following viewers using the app, which support the given message types in the table.

Types of Viewer

Viewer	Viewer Icon	Interface	Description
Image Viewer			Load a bag file containing sensor_msgs/Image or sensor_msgs/CompressedImage message type. Select Image Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize the image. Use the top-right corner options to zoom in and out, and pan the image in all directions.
Point Cloud Viewer			Load a bag file containing sensor_msgs/PointCloud2 message type. Select Point Cloud Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize the point cloud message. Use the top-right corner options to zoom in and out, pan, and rotate the message in 3D.
Laser Scan Viewer			Load a bag file containing sensor_msgs/LaserScan message type. Select Laser Scan Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize the laser scan message. Use the options on the top to zoom in and out, pan, and rotate the message 3D.
Odometry Viewer			Load a bag file containing nav_msgs/Odometry message type. Select Odometry Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize the odometry message. See the indicator to view the instantaneous location of the robot in the trajectory. Use the top-right corner options to zoom in and out, and pan in all directions.
XY Plot Viewer			Load a bag file containing geometry_msgs/Point or nav_msgs/Odometry message type. Select XY Plot Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize how the numeric message field changes across the XY axes. See the indicator to view the instantaneous location of the robot across the XY axes. Use the top-right corner options to zoom in and out, and pan in all directions.
Time Plot Viewer			Load a bag file containing geometry_msgs/Point or nav_msgs/Odometry message type. Select Time Plot Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize how the numeric message field changes with respect to time. See the indicator to view the instantaneous location of the robot. Use the top-right corner options to zoom in and out, and pan in all directions.
Message Viewer			Load a bag file containing any message type. Select Message Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize the raw message stored in the rosbag.
Map Viewer			Load a bag file containing sensor_msgs/NavSatFix or gps_common/GPSFix message types. Select Map Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize the GPS message. See the indicator to view the instantaneous location of the GPS coordinate in the trajectory. Use the top-right corner options to zoom in and out, and pan in all directions.
3D Viewer			Load a bag file containing sensor_msgs/PointCloud2, sensor_msgs/LaserScan, visualization_msgs/Marker or visualization_msgs/MarkerArray message type. Select 3D viewer from the toolstrip to open the 3D Settings tab at the top-right edge of the app canvas. Select one or multiple topics from the table in the 3D Settings tab for overlaid 3D visualization. Specify the visualization color of the selected topics between these options from the dropdown: Default — Message appears in the viewer in its default color, based on PARULA default colors and theme. Flat Color — Opens color picker to choose from a set of Standard Colors and Custom Colors (RGB) options and overwrite the default color data stored in the message. Click Base Frame ID to choose the coordinate frame for rendering the scene. The camera position and orientation are relative to the origin of this frame. To render a scene, you must have a transform from its frame to the selected coordinate frame in the Base Frame ID parameter. If the scene's frame matches the Base Frame ID, you do not need to apply an additional transform. For more information on transform between coordinate frames for scene rendering, see the Transforms for Marker and 3D Visualization table. Use the top-right corner options in the viewer to zoom in and out, pan, and rotate the messages in 3-D.
Marker Viewer			Load a bag file containing visualization_msgs/Marker or visualization_msgs/MarkerArray message types. Select Marker Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down in the Visualizer Settings tab to visualize the marker message. Click Base Frame ID to specify the frame ID which you want to be the global frame for marker visualization. To render a marker, you must have a transform from its frame to the selected coordinate frame in the Base Frame ID parameter. If the scene's frame matches the Base Frame ID, you do not need to apply an additional transform. For more information on transform between coordinate frames for scene rendering, see the Transforms for Marker and 3D Visualization table. Use the top-right corner options to zoom in and out, pan, and rotate the message in 3-D. From the Tools section on the app toolstrip, you can: Toggle the marker visualizer view between 2-D and 3-D axes. Select two marker points and measure distance between them. Use the data tips option in the top-right corner to select the two points of interest.

For each viewer, you can filter the supported messages in the bag file for visualization. You can fast forward, and rewind based on the message timestamp or elapsed time while playing the bag file. You can also pause, and play the bag frame-by-frame. The app also displays information about the bag file contents after loading the bag file. You can also save a snapshot of the visualization window at any particular instance of time.

Open the ROS Data Analyzer App

• MATLAB^® Toolstrip: On the Apps tab, under Robotics and Autonomous Systems, click the app icon .

• MATLAB command prompt: Enter rosDataAnalyzer.

Examples

• Get Started with ROS Data Analyzer App
• Sign Following Robot with ROS in MATLAB

Programmatic Use

rosDataAnalyzer opens the ROS Data Analyzer app, which enables you to visualize messages in a ROS or ROS 2 bag file.

Version History

Introduced in R2023a

R2026b: Visualize OMG IDL-based schemas from MCAP files

The ROS Data Analyzer app now supports opening and analyzing MCAP files that contain OMG IDL-based schemas. You can create an adapter that converts a non-ROS schema message into a ROS 2 message type for visualization with existing viewers, or view omgidl schema-encoded messages directly in the Message viewer to inspect message fields and values without conversion.

R2026a: Support improved topic selection and bag file loading control

The ROS Data Analyzer app now allows you to select all topics at once during topic-based export and stop the loading of large bag files midway for better control of long-running operations.

R2026a: Visualize custom message data from bag files

The ROS Data Analyzer app now supports visualization of custom ROS and ROS 2 messages using user-defined adapters. Adapters are stored in a user-configurable folder and persist across sessions. You can create, select, and manage adapters from the app toolbar using the Adapter Manager to convert custom messages into supported visualization formats.

R2025a: Skip unregistered custom ROS 2 message types

The ROS Data Analyzer app now skips custom messages while loading a ROS 2 bag file containing them, if they are not registered with MATLAB using the ros2genmsg function.

R2025a: Overlay multiple messages in 3D visualizer

You can now overlay multiple messages of the following message types in 3D visualizer:

• sensor_msgs/PointCloud2

• sensor_msgs/Laserscan

• visualization_msgs/Marker

• visualization_msgs/MarkerArray

You can move, zoom, and rotate the camera along all its axes in the 3D environment. You can view live topic data in the 3D visualizer and also change the color of each available topic for proper distinction.

R2024b: Visualize message data in Marker and Map visualizers

You can now create visualizers for 3-D marker data and map display using the ROS Data Analyzer app and play back the data in all the supported messages types for these visualizers.

R2024b: Export data using topics, bookmarks, or search results

You can now export your topics and bookmarks and save them to a BAG or MCAP file. You can also export your search results to a CSV file from searches across all bag files from your previous sessions, using filters like tags, bookmarks, or visualizers.

R2024a: App renamed to ROS Data Analyzer

The ROS Bag Viewer app has been renamed to ROS Data Analyzer.

R2024a: Play and visualize live data from topics in ROS and ROS 2, and add tags and search bag files

You can now use the ROS Data Analyzer app to play live data from topics in ROS and ROS 2. You can also add tags to ROS and ROS 2 bag files and search across all the recently opened ones using these filters:

• Tags added to bag files

• Bookmarks added to bag files

• Visualizers open in the last session with the bag file loaded in the app

R2023b: Enable visualizing ROS 2 bag files and 3-D odometry plots, adding bookmarks, and saving and importing sessions

You can now use the ROS Bag Viewer app to visualize ROS 2 Bag files and add 3-D odometry plots to visualize nav_msgs/Odometry messages. You can also add bookmarks while visualizing bag file data.

The app now automatically saves the visualization session including the plots and bookmarks for a ROS or ROS 2 bag file, when you close the app or load a new bag file. It restores the data when you load the same bag file again.