Consistent Longitude Range

ANSWER:

QUESTION: My longitude values range from -180 to 180. To be consistent with some other programs, I need them to range from 0 to 360. I can't just add 180 to each longitude value, since that will rotate my coordinate system by 180 degrees. What is the proper algorithm to use to make this conversion?

 

The answer is supplied by Ken Bowman in a 2 May 2005 article on the IDL newsgroup.

The proper way to convert the longitude values (assumed to be in the variable lon ) that are in the range -180 to 180 to the range 0 to 360 (in the variable t_lon ) is like this:

   t_lon = (lon + 360.0) MOD 360.0

The reverse transformation (converting data in the range 0 to 360, tlon , to the range -180 to 180) is done like this:

   lon = t_lon - (LONG(t_lon )/180)*360.0



http://www.dfanning.com/map_tips/lonconvert.html