if (GBrowserIsCompatible()) { 
      // A function to create the marker and set up the event window
      // Dont try to unroll this function. It has to be here for the function closure
      // Each instance of the function preserves the contends of a different instance
      // of the "marker" and "html" variables which will be needed later when the event triggers.    
	 var side_bar_html = "";
      var gmarkers = [];
      var htmls = [];
      var i = 0;
      // arrays to hold variants of the info window html with get direction forms open
      var to_htmls = [];
      var from_htmls = [];
	
	/*
	function createMarker(point,html, label) { 
        var marker = new GMarker(point, {title:label});
        GEvent.addListener(marker, "click", function() {
          marker.openInfoWindowHtml(html, {maxWidth:205});
          map.setCenter(marker.getPoint(), 15);
        });
        return marker;
	}
	*/
	
	
	



      // A function to create the marker and set up the event window
      function createMarker(point,name,html) {
        var marker = new GMarker(point);

        // The info window version with the "to here" form open
        to_htmls[i] = html + '<br>Directions: <b>To here</b> - <a href="javascript:fromhere(' + i + ')">From here</a>' +
           '<form action="javascript:getDirections()"><fieldset style="width:150px;border:0px;">' +
		'<label for="saddr">Start postcode:</label><input type="text" maxlength="40" name="saddr" id="saddr" value="" />' +
		'<input value="Get Directions" type="submit" />' +
		'<input type="hidden" id="daddr" value="'+name+"@"+ point.lat() + ',' + point.lng() + 
		'"/></fieldset></form>';
        // The info window version with the "to here" form open
        from_htmls[i] = html + '<br>Directions: <a href="javascript:tohere(' + i + ')">To here</a> - <b>From here</b>' +
           '<form action="javascript:getDirections()"><fieldset style="width:150px;border:0px;">' +
		'<label for="daddr">End postcode:</label><input type="text" maxlength="40" name="daddr" id="daddr" value="" />' +
		'<input value="Get Directions" type="submit" />' +
		'<input type="hidden" id="saddr" value="'+name+"@"+ point.lat() + ',' + point.lng() +
		'"/></fieldset></form>';
        // The inactive version of the direction info
        html = html + '<br>Directions: <a href="javascript:tohere('+i+')">To here</a> - <a href="javascript:fromhere('+i+')">From here</a>';

        GEvent.addListener(marker, "click", function() {
          marker.openInfoWindowHtml(html);
        });
        // save the info we need to use later for the side_bar
        gmarkers[i] = marker;
        htmls[i] = html;
        // add a line to the side_bar html
        side_bar_html += '<a href="javascript:myclick(' + i + ')">' + name + '</a><br>';
        i++;
        return marker;
      }

      // ===== request the directions =====
      function getDirections() {
        var saddr = document.getElementById("saddr").value
		//alert(saddr);
        var daddr = document.getElementById("daddr").value
		//alert(daddr);
		var locale="en_UK";
     	document.getElementById("directions").style.display = "block";
    	 gdir.load("from: "+daddr+" to: "+saddr,
                { "locale": locale });
      }

    


      // This function picks up the click and opens the corresponding info window
      function myclick(i) {
        gmarkers[i].openInfoWindowHtml(htmls[i]);
      }

      // functions that open the directions forms
      function tohere(i) {
        gmarkers[i].openInfoWindowHtml(to_htmls[i]);
      }
      function fromhere(i) {
        gmarkers[i].openInfoWindowHtml(from_htmls[i]);
      }

// Display the map, with some controls and set the initial location 
	var map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map")); 
	map.addControl(new GLargeMapControl());
	map.addControl(new GMapTypeControl());
	
	map.setCenter(new GLatLng(51.85727,0.072495),11);
	  	
	/* original markers */
	//var point = new GLatLng(51.85727,0.072495);
	//var html = pretty('Enfield','Enfield Office<br />Crossfield House<br />Gladbeck Way<br />Enfield<br />Middlesex<br />EN2 7HT<br />Tel: 020 8363 4444 <br /> Fax: 020 8884 7241','Enfield');
	//var marker = createMarker(point, '<div class="mapinfo">Much Hadham Radio Limited<br />High Street<br />Much Hadham<br />Herts<br />EN2 7HT<br />Tel: 0127984xxxx </div>','Much Hadham Radio Limited')
	//map.addOverlay(marker);
	
	
      // create the map
      /*var map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map"));
      map.addControl(new GLargeMapControl());
      map.addControl(new GMapTypeControl());
      map.setCenter(new GLatLng(43.907787,-79.359741), 9);
*/


      // === create a GDirections Object ===
      var gdir=new GDirections(map, document.getElementById("directions"));
		
      // === Array for decoding the failure codes ===
      var reasons=[];
      reasons[G_GEO_SUCCESS]            = "Success";
      reasons[G_GEO_MISSING_ADDRESS]    = "Missing Address: The address was either missing or had no value.";
      reasons[G_GEO_UNKNOWN_ADDRESS]    = "Unknown Address:  No corresponding geographic location could be found for the specified address.";
      reasons[G_GEO_UNAVAILABLE_ADDRESS]= "Unavailable Address:  The geocode for the given address cannot be returned due to legal or contractual reasons.";
      reasons[G_GEO_BAD_KEY]            = "Bad Key: The API key is either invalid or does not match the domain for which it was given";
      reasons[G_GEO_TOO_MANY_QUERIES]   = "Too Many Queries: The daily geocoding quota for this site has been exceeded.";
      reasons[G_GEO_SERVER_ERROR]       = "Server error: The geocoding request could not be successfully processed.";
      reasons[G_GEO_BAD_REQUEST]        = "A directions request could not be successfully parsed.";
      reasons[G_GEO_MISSING_QUERY]      = "No query was specified in the input.";
      reasons[G_GEO_UNKNOWN_DIRECTIONS] = "The GDirections object could not compute directions between the points.";

      // === catch Directions errors ===
      GEvent.addListener(gdir, "error", function() {
        var code = gdir.getStatus().code;
        var reason="Code "+code;
        if (reasons[code]) {
          reason = reasons[code]
        } 

        alert("Failed to obtain directions, "+reason);
      });



      // Read the data from example.xml
      var request = GXmlHttp.create();
      request.open("GET", "example.xml", true);
      request.onreadystatechange = function() {
        if (request.readyState == 4) {
          var xmlDoc = request.responseXML;
          // obtain the array of markers and loop through it
          var markers = xmlDoc.documentElement.getElementsByTagName("marker");
          
          for (var i = 0; i < markers.length; i++) {
            // obtain the attribues of each marker
            var lat = parseFloat(markers[i].getAttribute("lat"));
            var lng = parseFloat(markers[i].getAttribute("lng"));
            var point = new GLatLng(lat,lng);
            var html = markers[i].getAttribute("html");
            var label = markers[i].getAttribute("label");
            // create the marker
            var marker = createMarker(point,label,html);
            map.addOverlay(marker);
          }
          // put the assembled side_bar_html contents into the side_bar div
          document.getElementById("side_bar").innerHTML = side_bar_html;
        }
      }
      request.send(null);
	
} else {// display a warning if the browser was not compatible
	alert("Sorry, the Google Maps API is not compatible with this browser");
}