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I think the problem is that you are using the same frame (base_link) for both an external reference point and for the moving base. So from the robot point of view it is not moving!

You don't need a map for the navigation, but you need a fixed frame of reference, which in your case could be the odometry. Information about how to publish a custom odometry tf is here.

In the PR2 this is odom_combined for example.