Map and odometry frames are inconsistent

1. Symptoms

• The robot jumps in RViz.
• Two map frames appear or the transform flickers.
• The planner replans constantly.

2. Possible causes

• Two nodes publish map→odom (for example AMCL and a SLAM node).
• A fused filter publishes odom with jumps because absolute sensors are fused into it.
• Time stamps or use_sim_time mismatch.
• Wrong frame names between packages.

3. Measurements to collect

• Publishers on /tf for each pair.
• Largest step in odom→base_link.
• tf2_monitor output.

4. Diagnostic commands

Commands are not executed by the site’s automated tests (they need a ROS 2 Jazzy installation or the robot).

ros2 topic info /tf --verbose
ros2 run tf2_ros tf2_monitor
ros2 run tf2_tools view_frames

5. Step-by-step investigation

1. Print the tree and find duplicate parents.
2. Find the publishers for map→odom and keep one.
3. Check odom continuity (REP 105).
4. Check time settings.
5. Check frame names in each package’s configuration.

6. Corrective actions

• Run exactly one localiser publishing map→odom.
• Keep absolute sensors out of the odom filter, or run a second filter for the map frame.
• Fix time and frame names.

7. Validation after the fix

• view_frames shows one chain map→odom→base_link; odom has no jumps in a long run.

References

• REP 105, Coordinate Frames for Mobile Platforms: rep-0105.rst, read 2026-11-05.
• See the tf2 guide.