Marble, an open source world map and atlas software

Marble

In the next article we will take a look at Marble. This is an open source world atlas and virtual world map software and available for free for Gnu / Linux, Windows, MacOS and Android. This software comes with city and street maps, pedestrian, bicycle and car routes and more options. It will also allow us not to be alone on earth. This is a project based on kde and released under license LGPL-2.1-or later.

It is a versatile and user-friendly program. We can use Marble in a similar way to a desktop globe, which allows us to move around and measure distances. On a larger scale, it will be a world atlas, while OpenStreetMap will allow us to move at street level to search for places of interest, view Wikipedia articles, create routes by dragging and dropping and much more .

This software will also allow us to see ancient historical maps from centuries past and night maps of the earth, temperature, rain, political maps and open street maps in real time .

We can explore the neighborhood with Marble City and Street Map Set. Another option that the program offers is to search for addresses and places of interest. Marble takes care of querying multiple search backgrounds and presenting the results in a unified view . We will also be able to calculate routes for pedestrians, bicycles and cars easily, online and offline.

General properties of marble

Built on a common foundation, marble shares a similar feature seen on all supported platforms is this software .
We can use globe view or atlas view .
We will also be able to consult different types of maps, about streets, satellite, topographical and educational .
The program will allow us to see the moon as well .
We want to check the weather .
We can see clouds in real time .
Views of the day night .
Real-time satellites .
We will find various available Wikipedia articles .
We can see pictures of that .
We manage the search by postcode .
Online address search .
POI search .
location GPS .
Car routes .
Can show us bike routes .
We can find alternative routes .
Turn-by-turn navigation . Has available voice navigation .
This will give us the ability to measure distances .
We can add bookmarks .
We want an offline mode .

These are just some of the features of this program. They can consult them all in detail from the project website .

Install Marble on Ubuntu

Marble is available via Ubuntu's standard register and as a flat pack package.

From the Ubuntu repository

To install this software from Ubuntu archives , we just need to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and launch the following script to install the program:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install marble

After installation, we can open the application in search of the corresponding launcher via the View Applications menu, or by using this second command in the terminal:

marble

uninstall Marble

To remove this program from our team , we just need to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and execute the script:

sudo apt remove marble; sudo apt autoremove

Via Flatpak

Before we continue the installation, we must have this technology enabled in our system.

When you can install flatpack packages, it is only necessary in the terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) to run the Marble Flatpak installation command :

flatpak install flathub org.kde.marble

After installation we can start the program execute in the terminal this second command:

flatpak run org.kde.marble

How to enable Flatpak support in Ubuntu

In a controversial move, Canonical is pushing for us to use next-generation packages, but Linux users like to control what we use more and do not like this behavior. In addition, many of us prefer flatpack packages , among other things to be faster and easier to use.

Ubuntu 20.04 and Flatpak: steps to follow

The most important thing we need to know or take into account is that the problem is the new Ubuntu software, which is nothing more than Modified Snap Store and more limited as they have included in Focal Fossa. Knowing this, the steps to follow will be these:

The first thing we need to do is install the "flatpack" package. To do this we open a terminal and enter the following command:

1	`sudo apt install flatpak`

The above package does not use much for us without a compatible store, so we will install one. We can install Discover (plasma discovery) and from there search for "flatpak" and install the required engine, but being KDE software will install many dependencies, and it will not be as good as for example in Kubuntu. Therefore, the best option is to go back and install the "old" GNOME software:

1	`sudo apt install gnome-software`

Then we need to install the plugin so that GNOME software is compatible with Flatpak packages:

1	`sudo apt install gnome-software-plugin-flatpak`

From here we have to do the same as in Ubuntu 19.10 and earlier, and start by adding the Flathub repository with this command:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Finally, we will restart the operating system, and everything will be ready to install Flatpak packages in Ubuntu 20.04.

How to install Flathub software on Ubuntu

When support is enabled, the Flathub software appears in the GNOME software. The only thing we have to look at is the package information, part of the source where "flathub" will appear . Another option is to go to flathub.org , perform the searches from there, click on the blue button that says "INSTALL" and follow the instructions that appear on the screen.

If we want, we can also remove "Snap Store" with the command "sudo snap remove snap-store" without the quotes, but I leave this to the consumer's taste. If we do all of the above we will be the ones deciding what and where to install them , so I think it's worth it.

uninstall

To remove this program installed as a flatpack package , it is only necessary to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and execute in it:

flatpak uninstall org.kde.marble

With this program we will be able to explore the world, see the clouds, follow satellites, space stations and their orbits, all updated in real time. It will also allow us to travel through time using maps from previous centuries.

Ubuntu tips