Does Ouster SDK SLAM support a time-aligned external GNSS/INS XYZ prior during map building?

Software
1

We are processing vehicle-mounted Ouster PCAP data for approximately 10-mile road runs with Ouster SDK / ouster-cli 0.16.1.

We have a separate, time-aligned PolyNav GNSS/INS trajectory that provides LiDAR-origin XYZ and attitude at the Ouster timestamps.

We need to know whether Ouster SLAM itself supports ingesting this external trajectory while SLAM is building the map, specifically as weighted per-timestamp XYZ position priors.

We verified the installed ouster-cli source <pcap> slam command exposes:

  • min/max range
  • voxel size
  • dump map
  • deskew method
  • initial pose

We did not find an option for an external trajectory, GPS/INS CSV, odometry input, or per-axis XYZ weights.

We also found pose_optimize --auto-constraints, but that appears to run after SLAM and use GPS fields already stored in the Ouster scan source. That is not the external PolyNav trajectory we need.

Questions:

  1. Is there an officially supported Ouster SDK or CLI method to supply a time-aligned external GNSS/INS XYZ trajectory to KISS SLAM during SLAM processing?
  2. If yes, can XYZ be weighted independently by axis, and is there an example for PCAP/OSF processing?
  3. If no, is post-SLAM pose_optimize the only supported Ouster path for external position constraints?
  4. Is there an official Ouster-recommended workflow for long vehicle road runs where GNSS/INS should control global trajectory while LiDAR scan matching controls local geometry?

We are looking for a supported Ouster method, API, or example that will allow slam to ingest xyz from an external gnss system as it develops the map.

Follow-up:

I found an Ouster staff reply from May 2025 stating that SDK 0.16 was planned to add support for integrating external odometry devices.

We are running the current Windows ouster-sdk / ouster-cli 0.16.1 package. I searched the installed CLI and Python package source. I can find only:

  • slam with range, voxel, deskew, and initial-pose settings; and
  • post-SLAM pose_optimize --auto-constraints, which uses GPS fields inside the Ouster source.

I cannot find a documented CLI or Python API for a continuous external odometry/GNSS/INS trajectory during SLAM.

Did external odometry support ship in SDK 0.16.1 under a different API, plugin, build option, or ROS interface? If so, what is the exact supported example for supplying a time-aligned external GNSS/INS pose stream with a LiDAR-to-INS calibration transform?

If it did not ship, is there a planned release/version for it?

2
  1. The integrated OusterCLI SLAM doesn’t handle the GNSS signal.
  2. N/A
  3. yes, currently