Marble/FAQ

Frequently asked questions about Marble

Maps

The labels and features on the OpenStreetMap map theme look blurry! How can I fix this?

Marble uses the same bitmap data that is used by the OpenStreetMap webpage. In order to display it on a globe with a seamless panning and zooming experience the bitmaps need to be stretched and skewed in order to fit the projection and the magnification.

There are two way to avoid this:

• Use the Mercator projection and zoom in via the "+" key and zoom out via the "-" key. This will only choose zoom levels where the text appears sharp. Since Marble 1.13 (KDE Applications 15.12) the mouse wheel zoom chooses such zoom levels as well. For more information on this issue have a look at the associated Bug 199259.
• Advanced users can try our experimental vector tile rendering support. See https://techbase.kde.org/Marble/OSMVectorCompile for details.

I'd like to use the maps created with Marble for my website (or other purposes). Is this allowed?

Yes, as long as you give proper credits:

Marble usually uses several different sources of data to compile the map. We use only data which is "free" as in "Free Software" (which means that it's free as in "speech" not as in "beer"). Often we are using data from NASA or the CIA which is placed under the public domain according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_States)

We also use data that is licensed under other free licenses which are in accordance with the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). This usually means that there are basically no "strings" attached to the data except for proper attribution. To find out about the actual licenses of the data you can have a look at the credits section for the data in Marble's About dialog.

In case you are using OpenStreetMap in Marble it's important that you add a line to your publication which gives credit to the OpenStreetMap Project. Please have a look at the OpenStreetMap Legal FAQ for more information!

I think I've found a bug in the map data. How do I report it?

This depends on which map you are using in Marble. If the bug is not in the OpenStreetMap map then you should report it to

http://bugs.kde.org.

If the bug occurs for OpenStreetMap then there are two options:

1.) Please consider getting involved with the OpenStreetMap Project. This has the advantage that you can fix the bug yourself:

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Getting_Involved

2.) If you don't feel like fixing it yourself but if you just want to report it then OpenStreetBugs might be what you're looking for.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OpenStreetBugs

There is a bug in the clouds layer: Parts of it looks hazy. Can you do something about it??

The bug is in the data, so sorry at this point we cannot do anything about it. It doesn't always happen but it's quite often that the clouds don't "fit" on the lower eastern south.

Application

Is there a version of Marble for Android / Symbian?

Not at the moment. Technically it shouldn't be a big problem to adapt the code. However we need somebody to maintain the package.

I can't get the proxy to work. Doesn't Marble support proxies?

Marble prepended the proxy domain with "http://" in earlier versions. This was done in error. Instead of "http://foo.mycompany.com" please enter "foo.mycompany.com/foo" instead.

The coordinates look odd. I want decimal coordinates!

You can toggle between DMS (degree minute seconds) and decimal notation in the View preferences in Marble's settings.