// Create a base icon for all of our markers that specifies the
	// shadow, icon dimensions, etc.
	
	
	var baseIcon = new GIcon(G_DEFAULT_ICON);
	
	baseIcon.iconSize = new GSize(30, 32);
	baseIcon.shadow = "";

	
	function loadingPane(channel,message){
        messages[channel]=message;
        // init any vars that aren't set to make comparisons easier
        if (!messages['init']){
                messages['init']='';
        }
        if (!messages['plot']){
                messages['plot']='';
        }
        var tmpstr = '';
        if (messages['init'] != ''){    // if there is an initialising message
                tmpstr += messages['init']+"<br>";
        }
        if (messages['plot'] != ''){    // if there is an plotting message
                tmpstr += messages['plot']+"<br>";
        }
        document.getElementById("div_loading").innerHTML = '<div style="width:200px align:left" class="forumline gen"><b>'+tmpstr+'</b></div>';
        if (messages['init'] != '' || messages['plot'] != ''){
                document.getElementById("div_loading").style.visibility="visible";
        } else {
                document.getElementById("div_loading").style.visibility="hidden";
        }

	}
	
  // A function to create the marker and set up the event window
      function createMarker(point,name,html, couleur) {
		var icon = new GIcon(baseIcon);
		icon.image = "http://www.trip-europe.eu/images/teurope.png";			
        var marker = new GMarker(point, icon);
        GEvent.addListener(marker, "click", function() { marker.openInfoWindowHtml(html); });
        return marker;
      }

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