Insofar as usability by software (and the scientists or developers who write it), the software should be locating a dependent variable's appropriate latitude variable by matching up the coordinate?s variable name with the dependent variable?s dimension name, in the case of 1-d lat/long. Alternatively, the developer should look in the dependent variable?s :coordinates attribute, esp. for auxilliary coordinates such as the ones we use for swath data. Also, latitude and longitude variables are supposed to be recognizable via their units attribute (e.g. ?degrees_north?).
So cf-savvy software should be OK whichever way you go. However, I think it?s good to use the standard_name for all of the latitudes in this case, if only to set a good example for the other variables in the file.
On Mar 29, 2015, at 7:33 PM, Manning, Evan M (398B) <Evan.M.Manning at jpl.nasa.gov<mailto:Evan.M.Manning at jpl.nasa.gov>> wrote:
I'm defining a data set, and I have a question about reusing standard_names in a file.
For example this a swath, so there a lat/lon/time for each observed spot. There is also a subsatellite lat/lon and mid-scan time. And in some cases I have separate lat/lon by MW band.
So, does every lat get standard_name set to latitude, or just the primary one?
On the one hand, I can see that users of each field could benefit from having
the standard_name set so that users of that field know what it is. But on the
other hand, if a user or program wants to come in and see what is "the" latitude,
maybe things work better if the standard_name latitude is only used once?
(Latitude is a key geolocation parameter. Does the answer to the above question
change if we're talking about something less foundational, like land_area_fraction
or sensor_view_angle?)
On a related topic, I see that adding standard_names platform_latitude, etc.
has been discussed but the discussion seems to be stalled. What are the prospects?
Thanks!
-- Evan
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