The initial weather outlook for locations on the map pages displays a brief 5 day forecast. A summary icon displays the likely weather conditions for that day between the hours of 06.00am and 06.00pm. If there were likely to be showers at 10.00am, this would be indicated by the summary icon. Similarly, if there was cloud in the early evening, the icon would also display cloud.

By hovering your mouse over icons on the map, you will see the forecast change on the right for that location. However, to see the weather more accurately, you will need to view the detailed forecast. You can view the detailed forecast page for any location and any activity. Simply click on a location on the map, or click on the detailed forecast button or location name. To instantly view the detailed forecast for a particular day, click on the day name.

The ratings are the green, orange and red icons with a number between 1 and 10. Only some of the activities have ratings. The ratings are a great way of getting an idea of how good the weather is for that activity at a glance. There is no need to anaylse all the different weather factors, especially when checking locations on the map.

If an activity has ratings then you can check out the rating information for that activity by hovering over the "rating info" button. This explains how that particular activity is rated e.g weather variables used.

The map used is generated by Google and has similar functionality as Google Maps and Google Earth. So you can use the toolbar located on the left-side of the map to navigate.

By using the search below the map you can also select a region which will then center the map to that region. If you enter a location in the search this will return results of similar locations. If one of these results is then clicked, it will also center the map to that location.

If you cannot see the location you are looking for on the map, try the zoom-in button. The more you zoom-in, the more weather icons will appear for all the different places. E.g. When you are totally zoomed-out you will only see Auckland for the Auckland Region. But if you start zooming-in a few levels to that area, you will see weather icons for the North Shore, Manukau etc etc. Although, sometimes it might be quicker to use the search or region buttons below the map.

You can find your location in the following different ways:

• 1. Navigating the map - check out section 2.1;
• 2. Selecting the region which you know will contain your location (option below the map);
• 3. Enter your location in the search box (option below the map);

If your location is not in our database, try choosing a location nearby. For example, if you live in a small village just outside Hamilton, use Hamilton for your weather forecasts.

If your location is not in our database, try choosing a location nearby. For example, if you live in a small village just outside Hamilton, use Hamilton for your weather forecasts.

WeatherMap will provide a rating for certain activities which will instantly give you an idea of whether it is a good day for doing that activity based on the weather forecast. For example, a sunny clear day would be more favourable for many outdoor activities like walking, pet walking etc. If an activity has a rating, there will be a "Rating Info" option to see how the rating is calculated.

The summary forecast above the map allows you to instantly see what the weather is doing over the whole of New Zealand, or over a region, depending on the zoom of your map. By clicking Prev/Next or a day from the box you can see the summary or rating for the next five days. This is great if you want to plan a trip and want to know where the weather is looking good for your activity.

When you view a detailed forecast you can have the option of either a graph or table view. This is down to personal preference. When you have selected a view and you leave the page, your preferred view will be remembered automatically. To switch between a table or graph view, click on the icons in the top right section of detailed forecast.