Key Takeaways

  • Marble is an open-source alternative to Google Earth for Linux users, offering navigation, satellite imaging, and various climate-related overlays.
  • Marble provides 15 different map views, including OpenStreetMap for detailed street-level information and historical maps for a glimpse into the past.
  • It's a lightweight and customizable tool that can help you plan routes, explore the world, and even function with a GPS device for real-time location tracking.

The world is a vast place, filled with people, cultures, and locations you may never have imagined. Marble is an open-source virtual globe for your Linux desktop that allows you to explore the planet, plan routes, and even see the Earth as people did hundreds of years ago.

Why Use Marble?

Google Earth is the best-known player in the mapping and globe visualization space, and you can even use Google Earth as a web presentation tool. As a Linux user, you may not be comfortable having software from a notorious privacy-invading corporation on your desktop—especially when that software was developed with financial support from the CIA.

If you're concerned about privacy but still want to explore the Earth and beyond, Marble is a great alternative developed by KDE, and offers navigation, satellite imaging, street-level maps, and various climate-relate overlays. You're not limited to your home planet either, and can also navigate the empty seas and impact craters of the moon.

How to Install Marble on Linux

Marble is available in the default repositories of most major distributions, however, these releases are usually several versions behind the most current.

The easiest way to get hold of the most recent version of Marble is with Flatpak, so you should first install Flatpak if your distro doesn't already have it.

Now you can install Marble with:

        flatpak install flathub org.kde.marble
    
install marble with flatpak

Alternatively, if your distro has Snap installed, you can install Marble with:

        sudo snap install marble
    

You can now start Marble from your system menu.

Explore the World With Marble!

kde marble with atlas view

Open Marble for the first time, and you'll see a representation of the planet, centered on Denmark. The default view is similar to that you'd find in a traditional Atlas, with prominent physical features such as mountains and ocean trenches, along with colored lines representing the political borders between nations.

You'll also see artificial, yet useful demarcations such as the equator, tropics, and the prime meridian.

As with Google Earth, you can grab the virtual globe with the left mouse button, and rotate it on any axis, or use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out of the landscape. You won't get much detail with the default Atlas view. Capital cities and major features are marked, but no matter how far you zoom, you won't see smaller settlements or finer features.

Fortunately, Marble comes with 15 different map views as standard. These are of varying degrees of usefulness, but all are fascinating in their own way.

For most use cases, the most practically helpful map view is OpenStreetMap. This is a global street map created by the OpenStreetMap project—a community endeavor that uses aerial imagery, GPS devices, and field maps to ensure information is correct.

marble showing footpaths and tracks

With the OSM view, you will get a similar view to Google Maps. The smallest settlements are visible, and unlike Google's offering, you'll even be able to view footpaths, bridleways, and other tiny public rights-of-way.

Satellite view is based on NASA's beautiful Blue Marble Next Generation pictures, and shows you the earth as seen from space. The resolution isn't fantastic, though, and zooming in is often a disappointing experience.

marble july temperature map

If you're thinking about taking a vacation, or just have a passing interest in meteorology, you can use the precipitation and temperature views for July and December. This can give you an idea of conditions in other parts of the world, and if you're planning your next transcontinental adventure, help you to avoid, or seek out locations that are too hot, wet, cold, or dry.

Most of the time you'll likely start Marble just because it's an interesting way to pass an idle 10 minutes, and in our opinion, one of the most appealing features is the historical map views.

1689 map showing california as an island

The 1689 map was created by Dutch cartographer Gerard van Schagen, and the Behaim Globe is based on the Erdapfel—the oldest surviving terrestrial globe, created in 1492 by Martin Behaim. You shouldn't expect either of these maps to be accurate, as they were created by Europeans with limited, and often inaccurate knowledge of the world.

In the above screenshot of the globe as known in 1689, for example, you can see California represented as an island. While we wouldn't want to rely heavily on these historical maps, they're nonetheless an enthralling window into a different time and worldview.

gnomonic view of the atlantic and surrounding landmasses in kde marble

In addition to the type of map, you can also choose the way it's displayed. You're probably already familiar with the traditional globe and flat map views, but these might not be suitable for your purpose. Above the thumbnails of the map views, you can select unusual map and globe renditions including Stereographic, Gnomonic, Azimuthal Equidistant view, and more.

From the View menu, you can choose to see stars and clouds, view and browse eclipses, as well as virtually control time and the sun.

Configure Marble Virtual Globe gives you a huge array of options including a wealth of plugins.

Plan Your Next Trip With Marble

As well as being a virtual toy to help you pass the time and improve your geographic and historical knowledge, Marble is a practical tool that can help you explore the world for real.

The Routing tab allows you to plan your journey by searching for start and finish locations and specifying your means of transport. You can set waypoints, reverse your route, and further customize your travel plans by clicking the Spanner icon and selecting routing providers, as well as whether you want the quickest or shortest route, and types of road.

If you're traveling on foot, the routes can also include the previously mentioned footpaths, tracks, trails, and obscure rights-of-way.

Marble is also able to function with a GPS device. Although external GPS antennae aren't as common as they used to be, they are still available, and it's even possible to add a GPS hat to a Raspberry Pi. If you do have a GPS antenna for your Linux laptop, you can see your location on the map along with related information by choosing Settings > Panel > Location.

These features make Marble on Linux a suitable tool for taking on a long journey by road. Navigation benefits from being on a larger screen, especially if you're staying away from major highways.

You can even document your GPS tracks and share them.

How Does Marble Compare to Google Earth?

route planning with google earth on linux is clunky and cluttered

Marble comes with a host of features that we haven't had space to document here, including the ability to edit maps. We didn't find the desktop version of Google Earth—officially called Google Earth Pro—to have nearly as many views or things to do.

The default view is satellite, and although you can zoom in a lot further and quicker than with Marble, it consumes a lot of CPU power.

While Google Earth Pro does support layers, there aren't any particularly interesting map styles or ways to display maps.

Route planning is also disappointing—with a clunky slow interface and cluttered view. It's not the polished product we've come to expect from Google in recent years.

This is possibly because Google wants to push you onto the web versions of Google Earth and Google Maps, and it has menu bar buttons to enable you to do so easily.

Overall, both the desktop and web versions of Google Earth seem neglected and incomplete in comparison to Marble.

Unsurprisingly, Google uses Google Maps, which is pretty good, and offers novelties such as 3D buildings, and the very useful Google Street View which allows you to see a street-level view of roads, and if you would prefer Google's offering, there are tips to help you use Google Maps like a pro. However, the map detail you find in OSM maps is noticeably lacking.

If you enjoy walking and genuinely exploring an area rather than sticking to main, secondary, and tertiary roads, you'll miss the dirt tracks and paths you can use to plan a route in Marble.

You also have to appreciate the sheer horsepower that Google Earth demands. It's a heavyweight application and will set your fans spinning, even when using the browser version. In comparison, Marble is fairly lightweight, and didn't unduly tax our graphics card, CPU, or RAM.

Like the glass ball after which it's named, Marble is polished, simple, and fun to use.

Marble Is About the Journey, Not the Destination!

Google products tend to be concerned with an end result, and Google Earth is no exception to that philosophy. It lacks the spirit of adventure and exploration that you get with KDE's Marble, as well as a good degree of its functionality and customization options.

If you have a GPS antenna, and it's practical for you to take a Linux laptop with you in your car, Marble is a suitable tool for overlanding. If you'd prefer a mobile app for your overlanding adventure, there are plenty of options available.