diff --git a/src/GridElements.cpp b/src/GridElements.cpp
index 530d22b..abe4c7a 100644
--- a/src/GridElements.cpp
+++ b/src/GridElements.cpp
@@ -75,7 +75,9 @@ void Mesh::Clear() {
 
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
-void Mesh::ConstructEdgeMap(bool verbose) {
+void Mesh::ConstructEdgeMap(
+  bool fVerbose
+) {
 
 	// Construct the edge map
 	edgemap.clear();
@@ -99,7 +101,7 @@ void Mesh::ConstructEdgeMap(bool verbose) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	if (verbose) Announce("Mesh size: Edges [%i]", edgemap.size());
+	if (fVerbose) Announce("Mesh size: Edges [%i]", edgemap.size());
 }
 
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -258,7 +260,9 @@ void Mesh::ExchangeFirstAndSecondMesh() {
 
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
-void Mesh::RemoveCoincidentNodes() {
+void Mesh::RemoveCoincidentNodes(
+  bool fVerbose
+) {
 
 	// Put nodes into a map, tagging uniques
 	std::map<Node, int> mapNodes;
@@ -285,7 +289,9 @@ void Mesh::RemoveCoincidentNodes() {
 		return;
 	}
 
-	Announce("%i duplicate nodes detected", nodes.size() - vecUniques.size());
+	if(fVerbose) {
+		Announce("%i duplicate nodes detected", nodes.size() - vecUniques.size());
+	}
 
 	// Remove duplicates
 	NodeVector nodesOld = nodes;
@@ -1173,12 +1179,23 @@ void Mesh::Read(const std::string & strFile) {
 		int nElementBlocks = dimElementBlocks->size();
 
 		// Total number of elements
+		int nTotalElementCount = 0;
 		NcDim * dimElements = ncFile.get_dim("num_elem");
 		if (dimElements == NULL) {
-			_EXCEPTION1("Exodus Grid file \"%s\" is missing dimension "
+		  for (unsigned ib = 1; ib <= nElementBlocks; ++ib)
+		  {
+        std::string numelblk = std::string("num_el_in_blk"+std::to_string(ib));
+		    NcDim * dimElementBlockElems = ncFile.get_dim(numelblk.c_str());
+        nTotalElementCount += (dimElementBlockElems != NULL ? dimElementBlockElems->size() : 0);
+      }
+			if (nTotalElementCount == 0)
+			  _EXCEPTION1("Exodus Grid file \"%s\" is missing dimension "
 					"\"num_elem\"", strFile.c_str());
 		}
-		int nTotalElementCount = dimElements->size();
+    else
+    {
+		  nTotalElementCount = dimElements->size();
+    }
 
 		// Output size
 		Announce("Mesh size: Nodes [%i] Elements [%i]",
diff --git a/src/GridElements.h b/src/GridElements.h
index f6181e5..3c266ad 100644
--- a/src/GridElements.h
+++ b/src/GridElements.h
@@ -722,7 +722,9 @@ class Mesh {
 	///	<summary>
 	///		Construct the EdgeMap from the NodeVector and FaceVector.
 	///	</summary>
-	void ConstructEdgeMap(bool verbose=true);
+	void ConstructEdgeMap(
+	  bool fVerbose = true
+	);
 
 	///	<summary>
 	///		Construct the ReverseNodeArray from the NodeVector and FaceVector.
@@ -751,7 +753,9 @@ class Mesh {
 	///	<summary>
 	///		Remove coincident nodes from the Mesh and adjust indices in faces.
 	///	</summary>
-	void RemoveCoincidentNodes();
+	void RemoveCoincidentNodes(
+	  bool fVerbose = true
+	);
 
 	///	<summary>
 	///		Write the mesh to a NetCDF file in Exodus format.
diff --git a/src/OfflineMap.cpp b/src/OfflineMap.cpp
index e22724c..0ddaddd 100644
--- a/src/OfflineMap.cpp
+++ b/src/OfflineMap.cpp
@@ -337,23 +337,25 @@ void OfflineMap::InitializeCoordinatesFromMeshFV(
 	DataArray1D<double> & dCenterLat,
 	DataArray2D<double> & dVertexLon,
 	DataArray2D<double> & dVertexLat,
-	bool fLatLon
+	bool fLatLon,
+	int nNodesPerFace
 ) {
-	int nFaces = mesh.faces.size();
-
-	// Count maximum number of Nodes per Face
-	int nNodesPerFace = 0;
-	for (int i = 0; i < nFaces; i++) {
-		if (mesh.faces[i].edges.size() > nNodesPerFace) {
-			nNodesPerFace = mesh.faces[i].edges.size();
-		}
-	}
-
 	// Check if already initialized
 	if (dCenterLon.GetRows() != 0) {
 		return;
 	}
 
+	int nFaces = mesh.faces.size();
+
+	// Count maximum number of Nodes per Face
+	if (nNodesPerFace == 0) {
+    for (int i = 0; i < nFaces; i++) {
+      if (mesh.faces[i].edges.size() > nNodesPerFace) {
+        nNodesPerFace = mesh.faces[i].edges.size();
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
 	dVertexLon.Allocate(nFaces, nNodesPerFace);
 	dVertexLat.Allocate(nFaces, nNodesPerFace);
 
diff --git a/src/OfflineMap.h b/src/OfflineMap.h
index 364d47d..de12474 100644
--- a/src/OfflineMap.h
+++ b/src/OfflineMap.h
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ class OfflineMap {
         const std::vector<int>& p_tgtDimSizes
     );
 
-private:
+protected:
 	///	<summary>
 	///		Initialize the coordinate arrays for a finite-volume mesh.
 	///	</summary>
@@ -104,7 +104,8 @@ class OfflineMap {
 		DataArray1D<double> & dCenterLat,
 		DataArray2D<double> & dVertexLon,
 		DataArray2D<double> & dVertexLat,
-		bool fLatLon
+		bool fLatLon,
+		int nNodesPerFace = 0
 	);
 
 	///	<summary>