[CF-metadata] CF-1.6 Conformance Requirements/Recommendations

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:32:28 +0100

Dear Jim

We are discussing auxiliary coordinate variables. They do not have to be
1D or monotonic. Those requirements apply to coordinate variables in the
Unidata sense. CF distinguishes these two concepts in Sect 1.2.

> The point is, the information in the variable *is* coordinate information,

I would say, if it's missing, it's not information.

> What if we say something along the lines of, "Applications should treat the
> data as missing where the auxiliary coordinates are missing when plotting
> data."? Would that resolve the problem?

Plotting is not the only thing that an application might wish to use it for.
If we said, more generally, "Applications should treat the data as missing for
all purposes where the aux coord variables are missing", it would be almost
the same as not allowing missing data in aux coord vars, since there would be
no point in providing a data value if it was not permitted to use it.

Although I am arguing one side, I could be convinced either way. But it does
feel unsafe to me at present.

Cheers

Jonathan
Received on Thu Mar 29 2012 - 09:32:28 BST