Bill,
We covered that a while back, with, I think, David providing the most reasonable answer......
Mike,
Even I am getting confused a bit on your position. More to the point, I don't think staking before, or just surveying to find out where they were, etc., makes a big difference in what happened out there. We know they settled on a basic chunk of land before the option, with the ability to make at least minor refinements. Maybe major ones, but it does seem he was continually narrowing down the basic land chunk.
I agree with David he started with those few holes, and it sounds like the Alps and the Redan had to be in place, at least in his mind, if not staked. Then he worked around the edges and up and down from the Inn to the Bay. Knowing the length means he had to set the width at approximately what he did to come up with 205 AC. Can we cut it any finer than that with the info we have?
David,
Geez. How do you see anything with your head stuck so far up where the sun don't shine?
I have no interest in you picking every damn thing I write on word parsing. My main points stand, despite wording differences of smudge or indecipherable. I really don't feel the need to type exactly the words you type when I describe things. I think most followers pretty well know what we mean.
We just don't see the level of design in the areas I mentioned. I can see no other reasonable explanation than he worked more on the holes he says he placed first, first, and other holes that he said he would decide which template, original concept, or combo later. As you like to say (sorry, paraphrasing a bit again, so don't snap at me) we just can't ignore what he wrote in SG. And, my interpretation doesn't, it follows it pretty closely.
This map seems to have been drawn midway through the design process, because it is by no means a finished product. Some areas are more finished than others. It would be interesting to know when that was, but I don't think anything on it really tells us.
Byran,
Agree in full with David's last post. I did reread the thread again, and it seems you or others had already posted the most relevant information. And, we appreciate it!