diff --git a/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/resource_locator.h b/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/resource_locator.h
index 76179a5b5b6..ec8bda793c0 100644
--- a/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/resource_locator.h
+++ b/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/resource_locator.h
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ TESSERACT_COMMON_IGNORE_WARNINGS_PUSH
 #include <boost/serialization/export.hpp>
 TESSERACT_COMMON_IGNORE_WARNINGS_POP
 
+#include <tesseract_common/filesystem.h>
+
 namespace boost::serialization
 {
 class access;
@@ -82,7 +84,23 @@ class GeneralResourceLocator : public ResourceLocator
 public:
   using Ptr = std::shared_ptr<GeneralResourceLocator>;
   using ConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const GeneralResourceLocator>;
-  GeneralResourceLocator();
+  /**
+   * @brief Construct a new General Resource Locator object using the TESSERACT_RESOURCE_PATH environment variable
+   *
+   * @param environment_variables A vector of environment variables to search for paths
+   */
+  GeneralResourceLocator(const std::vector<std::string>& environment_variables = { "TESSERACT_RESOURCE_PATH",
+                                                                                   "ROS_PACKAGE_PATH" });
+  /**
+   * @brief Construct a new General Resource Locator object using the provided paths and/or the TESSERACT_RESOURCE_PATH
+   * environment variable
+   *
+   * @param paths A vector of paths to search for resources
+   * @param environment_variables A vector of environment variables to search for paths
+   */
+  GeneralResourceLocator(const std::vector<tesseract_common::fs::path>& paths,
+                         const std::vector<std::string>& environment_variables = { "TESSERACT_RESOURCE_PATH",
+                                                                                   "ROS_PACKAGE_PATH" });
   GeneralResourceLocator(const GeneralResourceLocator&) = default;
   GeneralResourceLocator& operator=(const GeneralResourceLocator&) = default;
   GeneralResourceLocator(GeneralResourceLocator&&) = default;
@@ -94,6 +112,24 @@ class GeneralResourceLocator : public ResourceLocator
   bool operator==(const GeneralResourceLocator& rhs) const;
   bool operator!=(const GeneralResourceLocator& rhs) const;
 
+  /**
+   * @brief Add path to the resource locator
+   *
+   * @param path The path to add. Must be a directory
+   * @return true Success
+   * @return false Directory does not exist
+   */
+  bool addPath(const tesseract_common::fs::path& path);
+
+  /**
+   * @brief Load paths from an environment variable
+   *
+   * @param environment_variable The environment variable to load paths from
+   * @return true Success
+   * @return false Environment variable does not exist
+   */
+  bool loadEnvironmentVariable(const std::string& environment_variable);
+
 private:
   friend class boost::serialization::access;
   template <class Archive>
diff --git a/tesseract_common/src/resource_locator.cpp b/tesseract_common/src/resource_locator.cpp
index 1e257b864c3..39c7f3817e4 100644
--- a/tesseract_common/src/resource_locator.cpp
+++ b/tesseract_common/src/resource_locator.cpp
@@ -51,24 +51,31 @@ void ResourceLocator::serialize(Archive& /*ar*/, const unsigned int /*version*/)
 {
 }
 
-GeneralResourceLocator::GeneralResourceLocator()
+GeneralResourceLocator::GeneralResourceLocator(const std::vector<std::string>& environment_variables)
 {
-  // This was added to allow user defined resource path
-  // When using this within a snap you can map host ros package paths to this environment variable
-  char* tesseract_resource_paths = std::getenv("TESSERACT_RESOURCE_PATH");
-  if (tesseract_resource_paths != nullptr)
+  for (const auto& env_variable : environment_variables)
   {
-    std::vector<std::string> tokens;
-#ifndef _WIN32
-    boost::split(tokens, tesseract_resource_paths, boost::is_any_of(":"), boost::token_compress_on);
-#else
-    boost::split(tokens, tesseract_resource_paths, boost::is_any_of(";"), boost::token_compress_on);
-#endif
-    for (const auto& token : tokens)
-      processToken(token);
+    loadEnvironmentVariable(env_variable);
+  }
+}
+
+GeneralResourceLocator::GeneralResourceLocator(const std::vector<tesseract_common::fs::path>& paths,
+                                               const std::vector<std::string>& environment_variables)
+{
+  for (const auto& path : paths)
+  {
+    addPath(path);
   }
 
-  char* ros_package_paths = std::getenv("ROS_PACKAGE_PATH");
+  for (const auto& env_variable : environment_variables)
+  {
+    loadEnvironmentVariable(env_variable);
+  }
+}
+
+bool GeneralResourceLocator::loadEnvironmentVariable(const std::string& environment_variable)
+{
+  char* ros_package_paths = std::getenv(environment_variable.c_str());
   if (ros_package_paths != nullptr)
   {
     std::vector<std::string> tokens;
@@ -79,7 +86,22 @@ GeneralResourceLocator::GeneralResourceLocator()
 #endif
     for (const auto& token : tokens)
       processToken(token);
+
+    return true;
   }
+  return false;
+}
+
+bool GeneralResourceLocator::addPath(const tesseract_common::fs::path& path)
+{
+  if (tesseract_common::fs::is_directory(path) && tesseract_common::fs::exists(path))
+  {
+    processToken(path.string());
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  CONSOLE_BRIDGE_logError("Package Path does not exist: %s", path.string().c_str());
+  return false;
 }
 
 void GeneralResourceLocator::processToken(const std::string& token)