Routines (alphabetical) > Routines: H > HDF-EOS Routines > EOS_SW_DEFGEOFIELD

# EOS_SW_DEFGEOFIELD

This function defines geolocation fields to be stored in the swath. The dimensions are entered as a string consisting of geolocation dimensions separated by commas. The API will attempt to merge into a single object those fields that share dimensions and in case of multidimensional fields, numbertype. If the merge keyword is not set, the API will not attempt to merge it with other fields. Fields using the unlimited dimension will not be merged. Because merging breaks the one-to-one correspondence between HDF-EOS fields and HDF SDS arrays, it should not be set if the user wishes to access the HDF field directly using HDF routines. To assure that the fields defined by EOS_SW_DEFGEOFIELD are properly established in the file, the swath should be detached (and then reattached) before writing to any fields.

Note: Array ordering of variables used or returned by this routine changed in IDL 5.5. Programs written for versions of this routine prior to IDL 5.5 may need to be modified to work correctly with the current version.

## Examples

In this example, we define the geolocation fields, Longitude and Latitude with dimensions GeoTrack and GeoXtrack and containing 4 byte floating point numbers. We allow these fields to be merged into a single object:

status = EOS_SW_DEFGEOFIELD(swathID, "Longitude",$

"GeoTrack,GeoXtrack", 5, /MERGE

status = EOS_SW_DEFGEOFIELD(swathID, "Latitude", $

"GeoTrack,GeoXtrack", 5, /MERGE

## Syntax

Result = EOS_SW_DEFGEOFIELD( swathID, fieldname, dimlist, numbertype[, /MERGE] )

## Return Value

Returns SUCCEED (0) if successful and FAIL (–1) otherwise.

## Arguments

### swathID

Swath id (long) returned by EOS_SW_CREATE or EOS_SW_ATTACH.

### fieldname

Name of field (string) to be defined.

### dimlist

The list of geolocation dimensions (sting) defining the field.

### numbertype

The HDF data type (long) of the data stored in the field.

## Keywords

### MERGE

If set, automatic merging will occur. By default, fields are not merged.

## Version History

5.2 | Introduced