Marble can visualize maps of the earth as well as for other planets. So far we only offer maps for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and the Moon.

For Earth and Mars there is a topographic map available. These maps show elevation/height levels in a color coded way.

Here is an example that you should use as a reference for this task:

http://files.kde.org/marble/newstuff/maps/mgsmola-marblemap.zip

This map shows the Mars Topography (if you have Marble installed you can also download it via File -> Download maps).

The original map consists of a grayscale jpg (little compression to avoid quality loss). It has the altitude encoded in a grayscale range. The topographic map for Venus is available here:

http://www.mapaplanet.org/explorer/venus.html

The data should be retrieved in the highest resolution available.

Then the data needs to be integrated: For this you need to create an xml file in the "dgml" format. Have a look at the dgml file that is located inside the Mars Topographic map.

You can compare it with the "plain" Venus map which is located here:

http://files.kde.org/marble/newstuff/maps/venus-marblemap.zip

From that file you should also copy the files which specify the places  so that  craters, landing sites, etc. show up on the map.

After editing the file it should be possible to display Venus inside Marble with the topography being color coded. Marble will take the colors specified inside the dgml in order to colorize the map.

Once this is accomplished you need to adjust the dgml so that the heights in the legend match the grayscale values from the map. You can use this map as a reference:

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/image/magellan_gtdrp.jpg

Please make sure that the Marble map based on the grayscale imagery uses the same colors and the same color-height relationship. You can use gimp in order to determine the grayscale value of the grayscale map and to determin the corresponding color shade in the color map.

Expected Result: A topographic Map of Venus that works exactly like the Mars map provided as a reference.