Monetization & consent

meridian runs as a free weather site. There is no working Premium checkout or paid plan that removes ads. Advertising only appears if you allow advertising consent and the operator configured Google AdSense.

The first visit banner lets you choose:

• Accept all — useful features plus advertising • Accept functional — useful features without advertising • Essential only — basics for the site to work • Manage preferences — turn categories on or off yourself

Useful categories explained simply: • Functional — remember weather on this device between visits; precise location helpers if you allow them • Advertising — Google ads when configured • Analytics — optional site usage measurement and Google Analytics when configured (not turned on by “Accept all”)

Change your mind later under Settings → Cookies when the floating Settings control is available (it can hide while scrolling, and may be offline under reduced motion).

When advertising is allowed and AdSense is configured, ads can appear on the home hero, under Your locations, under city-page tabs, and in some journal layouts. If ads are not configured or you declined advertising, you see a branded placeholder instead of a live ad. Home dashboard ad + Journal teaser are on by default (hide with NEXT_PUBLIC_SHOW_HOME_STRETCH=0).

If you switch Analytics on, the site may record simple first-party usage (such as which pages were viewed) and, when configured, load Google Analytics. Ad-slot visibility counting also needs advertising consent. Declining analytics keeps those loaders off.

meridian does not sell personal data. Any future paid data product would need clear notice and fresh consent.

Tier hardcoded free; meridian:tier unused; PremiumGate / minutely UI not wired. AdSense: GOOGLE_ADSENSE_CLIENT_ID plus GOOGLE_ADSENSE_SLOT_DASHBOARD, GOOGLE_ADSENSE_SLOT_HERO, GOOGLE_ADSENSE_SLOT_RECENT, GOOGLE_ADSENSE_SLOT_CITY_DETAIL, GOOGLE_ADSENSE_SLOT_DEFAULT. Active AdSlots: dashboard, hero, city-detail; recent-checks placement has no home UI. Placeholders: public/ads/*.png (sr-only overlay). Analytics: SiteAnalyticsBeacon + POST /api/analytics/collect when consent.analytics; GA4 needs NEXT_PUBLIC_GA_MEASUREMENT_ID + same consent. Stripe not implemented.