Marble is an interactive virtual globe and world atlas for exploring Earth and other planets. It can be used as a conventional atlas, a street-map viewer or an educational globe, with a broad selection of map themes and information layers.
The desktop application combines map browsing with place search, positioning and route planning. Many functions can work with locally downloaded data, which makes Marble useful where an internet connection is unavailable or undesirable.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Offers globe, atlas, street, satellite, topographic and educational map views, along with maps of the Moon and other planets.
- Searches for addresses and points of interest using online services or downloaded offline search data.
- Calculates pedestrian, bicycle and motorcar routes with support for online and offline routing.
- Allows routes to contain an arbitrary number of via points and can display alternative routes and elevation profiles.
- Provides turn-by-turn route guidance and voice navigation.
- Supports GPS localisation and tracking together with KML and GPX track handling.
- Displays information layers including weather, real-time clouds, day and night shading, Wikipedia articles, photos and earthquakes.
- Can follow satellites and space stations and display their orbits in real time.
- Includes historical maps for exploring how depictions of Earth have changed over time.
- Provides distance measurement, bookmarks, coordinate information and time simulation tools.
- Supports additional downloadable maps and can be placed into an offline mode.
- Built on reusable KDE and Qt components that can also be integrated into other applications.
Website: marble.kde.org
Support:
Developer: The Marble Project
License: GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1
Marble is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Virtual Globes | |
|---|---|
| Quantum GIS | User friendly Geographic Information System |
| OpenStreetMap | A copyright free alternative to Google Maps |
| Marble | Combination atlas/virtual globe |
| GeoMapApp | Earth science exploration, global topography database, and visualization |
| osgEarth | C++ toolkit for rendering geospatial data in 3D |
| World Wind | Virtual globe initially developed by NASA's Learning Technologies project |
| TerriaMap | Build and deploy web-based geospatial data explorers |
| ossimPlanet | Accurate 3D global geo-spatial viewer |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Mapping Tools | |
|---|---|
| Organic Maps | Offline maps & GPS app for hiking, cycling, biking, and driving |
| CoMaps | Community-led maps and navigation application |
| QGIS | GIS that supports vector, raster, and database formats |
| Marble | Virtual globe and world atlas |
| Placemark | Web-based tool for geospatial data |
| Maputnik | Visual editor for creating and editing MapLibre map styles |
| JOSM | Extensible editor for ​OpenStreetMap |
| uMap | Web application for creating and publishing custom interactive maps |
| Map | Wardley map editor |
| Kadas Albireo | Mapping application based on QGIS targeted at non-specialized users |
| TuiView | Lightweight raster GIS |
| Pure Maps | Native map and navigation application |
| Merkaartor | OpenStreetMap mapping program |
| GNOME Maps | Find places around the world |
| FacilMap | Collaborative map for planning and sharing locations |
| VersaTiles | Generate, process, store, serve, and render map tiles |
| osmin | GPS navigator for on-road and off-road navigation |
| OpenStreetBrowser | Browse and explore OpenStreetMap data by category |
| Maps | Lightweight map viewer for exploring places and locations |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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