Marble

Marble is a virtual globe and world atlas. It allows users to choose among the Earth, Moon and other planets to display a 3-D model.

Atlas is an essential resource to learn political and physical geography for social science teachers and students. Marble is a digital atlas used to analyze the information of a map. It contains many map views of the Earth and Moon. These maps give us information about physical geography of the Earth, including topography, rainfall, climate etc. We can search for locations and routes using Marble. We can measure distances, add place marks, configure physical features and obtain coordinates of a specific location on a map.

Marble can be downloaded from http://marble.kde.org/

Contributors, Content Editors and Reviewers

The Spoken Tutorial effort for Marble is being contributed by Ms. Viji Nair and Ms. Madhuri Ganapathi from IIT Bombay.

Basic Level

1. Installation of Marble

• Install Marble version 1.12.20 in Ubuntu Linux OS 16.04 using the terminal

• Open the Marble application in Ubuntu Linux OS 16.04

• Zoom in to show India on the Marble virtual globe

• Show the KDE Marble home page

• Install Marble version 2.2.0 in Windows 10 OS

• Open the installed Marble version 2.2.0 in Windows 10 OS

• Create a Desktop shortcut icon for Marble while installing

• Open the Marble application in Windows 10 OS

• Show different Map views in the Map View panel

2. Introduction to Marble

• View Topographical map of the earth

• Use Windrose tool to navigate on the globe

• About Overview map

• Use of Zoom slider to Zoom in and Zoom out

• About Scale bar

• About Status bar

• Different menus on the menu bar

• Show the sub-menus with shortcut keys

• Set default home location as India

• Set Mumbai as a bookmark

3. Panels in Marble

• Explanation of default panels in Marble

• Demo of Search, Routing and Location panels

• Explanation about Map View and Legend panels

• Demo of various Map Views of Earth

• 2D and 3D views of Earth

• Explanation about Moon's view

• Explanation about various symbols used in the Legend panel

• Demo on how to open hidden panels using the Settings menu

• Use of Edit Maps and Tour panels

• Explanation about Files panel and it's databases

4. Search Places in Marble

• Explain about Search panel

• Show different components of the Search panel

• Activate Cross-hairs option

• Open Place information datasheet

• Explain about Place information data sheet and its components

• Show how to clear search history

• Search mountains on the map

• Explain how to measure the distance between two places on the map

• Delete measure points from the map

5. Globe - A true model of Earth

• Define a globe

• Explain about Behaim globe and historical map

• Explain about continents and oceans in the flat view

• Hide and show the panels

• Explain about the political map of the world

• Show equator, prime meridian, latitudes and longitudes on the globe

• Change the colours of latitudes and longitudes on the globe

• Show parallel network of latitudes and longitudes on the globe

• Explain about grid and coordinates

• Find the coordinates of a place on the globe

6. Export Print and Download maps

• Show how to hide Compass, Overview map, Wind-rose and Scale bar from the Marble interface

• Show how to hide latitudes and longitudes for better view of the map

• Show how to export a map

• Open an exported map

• Show how to print a map

• About different settings and options of print dialog box

• Explain how to download maps to Map view panel

• Show various maps available to download in the Marble interface

• Open the downloaded map in the Map view panel

• Show the downloaded Mercury map in the Earth drop-down button

7. Route maps

• About OpenStreetMap

• Show some prominent places in Mumbai using OpenStreetMap view

• Explain about Legend panel in the OpenStreetMap view

• Find a route map between two places

• Remove an existing route map

• Find a local route between two places

• About different route profiles

• About Settings of a route profile

• Export a route map

• Open the exported route map on the interface

8. Edit maps

• Explain how to make the Edit Maps panel visible on the interface

• Show various icons available in Edit Maps panel

• Add a placemark on a particular location on the map

• Add a place information datasheet for a location on the map

• Highlight a particular area on the map using the Add polygon option

• Explain about nodes

• Mark nodes on the map to highlight a particular area

• Add a path on the map

• Save annotations made on the map

• Open the saved annotation file

Intermediate Level

9. Customize the Route Maps

• Change the existing route using drag and drop method

• Change the existing route using Add via method

• Find a reverse route for the existing route

• Clear a route from the map

• Open an existing route map that is saved eearlier

• Position tracking of a route

• Save the track in .kml format

• Open the saved track in marble

• Clear the current track from the route

• Disable the position tracking of a route

10. More on Edit maps

• About Ground Overlay

• Place the Indian Flag as a ground overlay on the map of India

• Resize the image using arrow handles

• Select an item on the map

• Add a polygon hole in an existing polygon

• Change the colour of the polygon area on the map

• Add nodes to an existing path

• Remove an item from the map

• Delete all annotations from the map

• View the Edit maps icons in the View menu

11. Features of Marble

• Create a new map in Marble

• Give a name and description for the new map

• Open the created map in the Map View panel

• Delete the created map from the Map View panel

• Copy a map to a document

• Information about FFmpeg

• Steps to record a movie

• About FPS

• About Earth at night view

• Open the recorded video file

12.Additional Features of Marble

• About various options in the view menu

• About elevation profile

• Find elevation profile of a route

• Set the Gps information of a route

• Set day and night mode in the openstreetmap using Sun control option

• Set subsolar point on the map

• View various photos posted on Flickr site using online services option

• Open photos in Flickr site

• Show diffused reflection of the atmosphere in the satellite view

• View clouds in the satellite view

13.Configure Marble

• Define configuration

• the configure menu

• About various navigation parameters in Marble

• how to change date and time

• Information about plugins

• Show the available Plugins in Marble

• Activate all plugins in Marble

• Configure compass plugin

• Change preview image and size of overview map

• Change the colour of position indicator

14. Celestial bodies and constellations

• Rotate the globe to see different celestial bodies on the sky

• Hide overview map, compass and scale bar for clarity

• Hide all the panels to see the sky clearly

• Configure stars plugins

• Hide all the stars using stars magnitude limit

• Using the solar system check-boxes, make all planets visible on the sky

• About constellations

• Change the colour of lines and labels of the constellations

• Show all the stars using stars magnitude limit

• Rotate the globe to see various constellations and zodiac signs on the sky

15. Satellites and Eclipses

• Define a satellite and an orbit

• Disable the stars for better visibility

• About satellite information data sheet

• Display and hide the satellite's orbit using the context menu

• Show and disable position tracking of the satellite

• Find a particular satellite using the Search panel

• Configure satellites

• Define an eclipse

• Observe solar eclipses as shaded regions on the globe

• Configure eclipses

Contributors and Content Editors

Madhurig, Vijinair