A ros package rplidar_ros is provided for basic device handling with the laser scanner Rplidar. See [here] for more details (http://wiki.ros.org/rplidar) on e.g. parameter settings and message interfaces.
You can use this packge as a basis for further development using lidar technology, such as lidar based perception or mapping and localization.
% roslaunch rplidar_bringup rplidar_bringup.launch
ROS has implementation for laser-based SLAM and the Adaptive Monte Carlo Localization algorithm. Check the link for gmapping and acml respectively.