Your idea does sound like a convenient method for reading data using strides, when the variables being plotted are file variables. However if the SHADE plot is showing a more complex _expression_ perhaps involving combinations of variables regridded to a new grid, then the qualifier would be ambiguous.
It may be more cumbersome, but it is really necessary to to attach the striding information to the file variables or their grids.
Certainly a script can set up the striding according to the size of the grid and the output resolution of the image. Here's an example. Similar logic could be used to define a stride and use the SET AXIS/STRIDE command, or to define strides on a sub-region of the grid.
yes? let xres = 600
yes? let yres = 400
yes? let nx = `var,return=isize`
yes? let ny = `var,return=jsize`
yes? let istride = MAX(1,INT(nx/xres + 0.5))
yes? let jstride = MAX(1,INT(ny/yres + 0.5))
yes? define symbol region_spec = [i=1:`nx`:`istride`,j=1:`ny`:`jstride`]
yes? shade var($region_spec), lon2D($region_spec), lat2D($region_spec)
-Ansley