LDAS support for xindex/yindex for greater number of grids - or remove because confusing

[timcera]

The xindex/yindex options in ldas have always been problematic. The xindex/yindex in the NLDAS shapefile actually have to have 1 subtracted to be used with the LDAS web services. Haven't found GLDAS shapefile. Maybe just remove so there is no confusion?

[mishranurag]

I used the ascii file (landmask_mod44w_025.asc) to get the latitude and longitude from xindex and yindex. It could be done to do reverse search as well. Then may be user should enter latitude and longitude and not bother about index.

In the past I downloaded this file from the LDAS website and it is 25MB.

landmask_mod44w_025.asc.zip

[timcera]

The web services automatically will find the correct grid cell if given lat/lon. Plus, at least for the NLDAS shapefile, the web services start counting at 0 while the shapefile xindex/yindex start counting at 1.

It is good to have the land mask as reference. Wish that it wasn't so big because it might be nice to report back to the user an error if trying to download data from a water cell.