Mapping las Margaritas can be very time consuming so I have moved back to the Backcountry of Chiapas. I estimate that I have mapped 95% of the roads in the lower right corner, not counting the tracks which are relatively unimportant and extremely numerous in the area. What I am calling the lower right corner of Chiapas is basically the flat lands that are to the south east of Parque Natural Montes Azules within Chiapas. I estimate that within the week I will finish mapping all major roads, and residential roads within this lower right corner of Chiapas. I have begun adding names to the towns using what I find in Google Maps, It seems to be trust worthy, as on more than one occasion the names have been supported by signage within Google Street-view. I also hope to finish adding all the names of these small towns in the lower right corner within the week.

So what is next?

I have already begun expanding into Guatemala. So far I have constrained myself to the obvious natural borders with the area, Río Chixoy(OSM)/Río Negro(Google Maps) has been my main constraint to the south Mapping here is practically finished with lower right corner Chiapas. My main constraint to the east has been Río Salinas(OSM)/Río Negro(Google Maps) to the East. This is actually the same river as Río Chixoy(OSM)/Río Negro(Google Maps) and I will need to do research to find the correct name. Río Salinas(OSM)/Río Negro(Google Maps) is the eastern border of Chiapas so for the most part this is finished as well.

The plan of action right now, is to see where the edits take me. But the plan is that I will continue to the north on MEX 301 and finish off the last bits of lower right corner to the north of Benemérito de las Américas, and finish the major highway editing within lower right corner!!! =D After that the I will probably move to 3 major areas. First East of Lower Right Corner in northern Guatemala where similar to Lower Right Corner’s condition a year ago there is virtually no basic highway data. A name personal name is pending for this area, but I will likely just keep calling it East of Lower Right Corner This area should go relatively quickly as the roads main roads are very strait, and with no guarantee on the accuracy of the of the satellite imagery as far as offset, accuracy of every 2˚ bend is not critical. The main constraining factor to this area is imagery as there is no imagery to east.

After this The next obvious place to map is the River Lands which is what i call the area to the west of Lower Right Corner in Chiapas. I plan to expand to the north and west in this area, until eventually mapping everything east of Las Margaritas. I am also working on adding basic highway data in the areas to the south of the River Lands in Guatemala. The main constraining factor here is again no satellite data to the south. The imagery is also somewhat dated as there has been recent construction of a new major highway in the area, this is the limiting factor tow the west in this area of Guatemala. in the River Lands only so much mapping can be done to the west, as the quality of the satellite imagery degrades, and there is a large number of clouds making mapping difficult. This means that once basic expansion has been done to the south and west, the obvious place to expand to is to the north where the satellite imagery is of relatively high quality.

This is all just a basic plan, and subject to change, but I have found in the past that working in areas where there is a clear direction to expand in is helpful in preventing exhaustion as when there are no constraints, such as in the campo areas of Puebla, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of area to be mapped.

Well that is mostly it for now I will update as time goes on.