Alternatives to Marble

A KDE virtual globe and world atlas that zooms from a desktop globe to OpenStreetMap street level. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as Marble.

  • Google Earth

    A free 3D globe with high-resolution imagery, historical imagery layers and guided Voyager stories.

    FreeProprietaryWeb

    Google Earth is a free browser-based 3D globe with high-resolution imagery, historical imagery and Voyager stories, but it is a proprietary Google service.

  • GNOME Maps

    A map application for the GNOME desktop that searches places and plans routes using OpenStreetMap data.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    GNOME Maps is a simpler open-source Linux map app on OpenStreetMap data with pedestrian and transit routing, without a globe view or Windows and macOS versions.

  • OpenStreetMap

    A collaboratively edited world map you can browse, search, route on and edit in a browser.

    FreeOpen sourceWeb

    OpenStreetMap is an open world map in the browser with search, routing and editing, but it has no globe view and no offline use.

Also worth comparing

These listings name Marble as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.

  • Seterra

    A browser-based map quiz game for learning countries, capitals, flags and physical geography.

    FreeProprietaryWeb

    Marble is an open-source KDE globe and atlas for desktop and Android, suited to exploring places rather than quiz-based memorising of map facts.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.

  • NASA Worldview

    A browser tool from NASA for exploring full-resolution daily satellite imagery of the whole globe.

    FreeProprietaryWeb

  • Copernicus Browser

    A web application for browsing, visualising and downloading imagery from all Copernicus satellite missions.

    FreeProprietaryWeb

  • QGIS

    A free and open-source desktop GIS for making maps, editing spatial data and running analysis.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

  • OpenHistoricalMap

    A collaborative interactive map of the world through history, edited by volunteers and public domain.

    FreeProprietaryWeb