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In short, this gadget puts an interactive weather map on your iGoogle page. Google hosts a page for this gadget, but this page will be more informative.

Settings

Location

This can be any location that is recognized by Google Maps. A specific address works, but a simple zipcode is recommended. This is required but can be overridden by a specified latitude and longitude setting.

Latitude

You can specify a specific latitude value to create a specific geographic location for the center of the map. This setting is not required and should be left blank if not in use. It is recommended that latitude values are positive (e.g. 42.438) since the weather only displays in the United States. If this setting is used a valid longitude value is also required.

Longitude

You can specify a specific longitude value to create a specific geographic location for the center of the map. This setting is not required and should be left blank if not in use. It is recommended that longitude values are negative (e.g. -36.5) since the weather only displays in the United States. If this setting is used a valid latitude value is also required.

Alpha

The inverse of transparency (i.e. 20 is 80% transparent). Higher values result in more solid colors. Values may range from 0 to 100.

Zoom

The initial magnification of the map. Values may range from 1 to 13 with the former being the entire earth.

Height

The height in pixels of the map. A value around 200 is recommended for an iGoogle page.

Display

The weather layer added to the map. These values include satellite, satellite_radar (i.e. satellite and radar), radar, and others. The first two layers load 10 images for animation, while the last will load 22.

Map

The ground layer loaded for the map. The options are either road or satellite. Road is recommended as it provides better contrast with the weather layer.

Animation

Check this box if you would like to load the map with animation by default. An unchecked box will load the latest image available.