Progress

This was to be a big week as we were going to reach a grand total of 200 structures mapped at Xtobo. However, we instead decided to roar past 200 and by the end of the day on Friday we had finished mapping in a total of 229 structures. What particularly makes these numbers significant is that my original, admittedly by the seat of my pants, estimate was that we would map in around 250 structures for the entire site. And here we are sitting at 229 with almost half the site still to go. The fancy interpretation of which is, more structures equal more people. Xtobo appears to have been a more active and vibrant community than even I had expected.

As an additional measure of progress I invite you all to click on the map posted below. The base map that you can currently see was put together before the beginning of this season. It shows the previously mapped structures of the site center, along with points representing other known structures. On a week by week basis I have been updating this map to track our progress. When you click on the map below it will show you an animation of the last 11 weeks strung together. The black lines represent trails that have been cut, and the filled squares represent cleared and then mapped quadrants. Regrettably the quality of the maps has been somewhat degraded by the animation program.

There is much work still to be done at Xtobo, but week by week we are making great progress. I originally estimated, again by the seat of my pants, that it would take three months to map the remainder of the site. It looks like we will go over that estimate by a few weeks, but considering how far off I was on the estimate of total structures at the site, I think we’re doing pretty good. I hope that all of you are making as much progress towards your goals.