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drawtonomy vs MapToolbox

MapToolbox by Autocore AI is an open-source Unity plugin for creating Lanelet2 maps for Autoware.

What MapToolbox covers, per the official README:

  • Unity-based 3D editing for Autoware HD maps.
  • Lanelet2 export for direct use in Autoware.
  • Lanelet creation, traffic light / stop line / traffic sign placement.
  • Installable via Unity Package Manager.
  • Licensed under LGPL-3.0.

If your team already uses Unity for related work — simulation, visualization, asset management — MapToolbox keeps Lanelet2 authoring inside the same environment.

Where drawtonomy might fit alongside MapToolbox

Section titled “Where drawtonomy might fit alongside MapToolbox”

drawtonomy and MapToolbox don’t really overlap — one is a Unity-based 3D editor, the other is a 2D browser whiteboard. They can sit next to each other in a workflow.

Per drawtonomy’s exporter documentation:

  • Imports a Lanelet2 .osm file and renders lanelets as editable shapes.
  • Lets you reshape boundaries and do basic geometric tweaks.
  • Re-exports while preserving regulatory elements through a sidecar.
  • Does not support creating or editing regulatory elements in the UI.

A few small things drawtonomy can add alongside MapToolbox:

  • Browser-only inspection of a Lanelet2 map without setting up Unity.
  • 2D top-down figures of a small piece of a Lanelet2 map for a paper or slide.
  • .drawtonomy.svg as a re-editable figure source for documentation.
  • OpenSCENARIO 1.3 + OpenDRIVE 1.8 export for the same scene, if you want an esmini-playable companion.

For Autoware HD-map authoring in Unity, MapToolbox is the right tool. drawtonomy is for figures and quick browser-side inspection.

MapToolbox brings Lanelet2 authoring into the Unity ecosystem, which is a useful bridge for teams who also build simulators or visualizations in Unity. drawtonomy reads and writes the same Lanelet2 OSM format, so a map authored in MapToolbox can be opened in drawtonomy for a quick figure, and vice versa for light geometric tweaks. Both tools — alongside Vector Map Builder, JOSM, and the rest of the Autoware Foundation ecosystem — contribute to the same open HD-map community from different angles.