Marble is a virtual globe and satellite map for desktop devices. It offers many interactive features, allowing you to explore the world, measure distances, and zoom in close to explore cities and streets.
In this Marble review, I will be exploring this application’s features, pricing, and more. We will also explore if it is a viable Google Earth alternative. Let’s get into it!
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Verdict
Our Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
Marble is a free and open-source virtual globe, atlas, satellite map, weather map, street map, and more, all in one. You can easily switch between map types and learn more about the world.
Whether you want to explore the world virtually, get directions, or view Wikipedia pages about places you find on the map, Marble has it all. Here are the pros and cons of Marble.
Pros
- It is free and open source.
- It is available for all major desktop operating systems except macOS.
- There is an Android app.
- You can switch between different map types (atlas, satellite, globe, etc).
- You can get real-time traffic data and navigational directions.
Cons
- There is no web-based version.
- The Android version is a glorified version of OpenStreetMap and only includes street map view, with navigational directions, but without weather data, satellite maps, and most features.
- The Android version is not updated and is not available on the Google Play Store (only as an APK).
- There is no app for macOS or iOS.
Marble Overview and Features
Marble is an open-source desktop and mobile application that is a great alternative to Google Earth and Google Maps (it has both in one, and a lot more!). It provides a satellite map, a world atlas, and more.
As an open-source software, the app’s source code is available for download. You can view, edit, and share the source code, and the software is free to use.
It is a versatile satellite map, with many interactive and engaging features.
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Types of Maps
Virtual Globe
The virtual globe is a digital globe that you can use on your desktop. You can spin around this globe and zoom in.
You can measure distances and learn about satellites orbiting Earth and space missions.
Satellite Images and Topographic Maps
In satellite mode, you can view photographs of Earth as they were taken from satellites in space. You can view cities, storms, oceans, and other data with these maps.
Topographic maps are also available. These highlight the terrain in detail.
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Atlas View
Marble supports an atlas view, in which you view the world as an atlas, or flat map. It mimics an atlas you might see in a book.
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Street Maps
Marble supports street maps via OpenStreetMap, a popular alternative to Google Maps. These maps have detailed information on a street level, similar to Google Maps.
You can use these maps to get navigational directions, look up addresses, and more.
In fact, via OpenStreetMap, you can search for both addresses and points of interest both online and offline. For offline navigation and address search, though, you will need to download the maps to your device first.
Weather Maps
On Marble, you can also view weather maps. If you want to check the precipitation or temperature, there are maps that will display this information.
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Other Planets and Other Maps
Not only can you explore Earth, but you can explore other planets with the planet maps. You can also explore various moons.
Finally, there are various additional apps available for download in the desktop application.
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Information Layers
One of the best things about Marble is that it integrates information from many sources. Not only can you view all kinds of maps, but you can also view additional information alongside or on top of the maps.
Here are some of the information layers available on Marble:
- Weather: View weather information for your region.
- Real-time cloud coverage: Check the cloud cover in your region.
- Real-time satellite information: If you’re interested in checking where satellites are and what they are doing, you can do so.
- Wikipedia articles: When exploring different cities or points of interest around the world, you can view Wikipedia pages to learn more about them.
- Postal codes: Overlay the postal codes of the areas you are viewing.
- Real-time traffic data: See real-time traffic data for your area.
- GPS localization: Determine the exact GPS coordinates of any location.
- WLAN localization: Determine your location using WLANs (Wireless Local Area Networks).
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Navigational Data
One of the best things about Marble is that it’s not only a satellite map. With the addition of street maps from OpenStreetMap, you can get navigational directions from point A to point B, whether you’re walking around a new city or driving to your job interview.
Navigational data is available for:
- Cars
- Bikes
- Pedestrians
- Local transit
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For example, if you are relying on the subway or buses to get across town, you can use Marble to find out which routes you should take, when they stop, where they stop, and more.
You can even get navigational data when you are offline. However, it won’t be as good as when you are online, because you would then be able to get optimized directions based on traffic data.
One option is getting eco-friendly directions: a route that will waste as least fuel as possible.
Navigational data isn’t only displayed on the map. If you have ever used Google Maps or Waze, you are probably accustomed to voice instructions telling you where to turn and when; Marble offers the same feature.
You can even change the language of the voice giving the navigational instructions.
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Supported Platforms
The first thing to note is that Marble does not have a web-based application like Google Earth. That means that you can’t use it in your browser and must instead download the application.
The good news is that Marble is available for Windows and Linux.
In addition, there is a mobile app for Android. However, the Android app is more limited.
The Android app is more like an enhanced version of OpenStreetMap. It allows you to view streets, but it doesn’t have the globe view, atlas view, topographic maps, and everything else that makes Marble so amazing.
The Android version is also missing information layers, such as weather data, real-time traffic, Wikipedia articles, and a lot more. It does provide navigational data, though, like Google Maps.
In other words, the Android app is more like Google Maps rather than Google Earth.
The worst part about the Android app, though, is that it’s not available on Google Play but instead as an APK file download. Although the Marble website claims the app is available on Google Play, the link is broken, as the app is no longer active on the Google Play Store.
Although it is still available as an APK download, it hasn’t been updated for several years. There is no saying how well it will work on your device, especially if you have an updated version of Android, and how many bugs you will encounter while using it.
The download page on the website also claims there is a macOS version. However, the button is broken, and when you click on it, nothing happens; I was unable to download it to my device.
Therefore, you’re stuck with using it on Linux and Windows.
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Where to Find the Source Code?
You can find the source code of Marble here. As you can see, the project is regularly updated and has an active community of developers.
It’s not as active and updated as I would have liked, though. For example, the website has broken links and buttons for the Android and macOS installation packages.
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Conclusion
Marble remains one of my favorite alternatives to Google Earth and Google Maps. There’s no other open-source and free application that I know of which has so many types of maps built into one.
The ability to switch between different types of maps gives you a lot of flexibility and makes Marble one of the most versatile map applications. Why not have all the different types of maps, such as satellites, weather maps, atlases, and street maps in one application?
I do have a few gripes, though, which is why I did not award it five stars.
First of all, it doesn’t have a web-based application, which means you must use it on a desktop. However, the download page is misleading, as the macOS button didn’t work for me (I tried on two separate devices).
You can use it on Windows or Linux, though.
I was excited about the possibility of using it on Android, but I found that the link to the Google Play Store download page was broken, and the app was no longer available from the Google Play Store.
There was an APK version, but it was updated many years ago, and I didn’t want to download it. I feared it would have too many bugs that could compromise the security of my device.
Other than that, though, Marble is pretty good, and it gets four stars for being open source and integrating all kinds of maps into one application.
