Si Muang Mai, octagonal shaped town near Ubon, why this shape?

[Filer]

 

I accidentally came across this unusual (octagonal) small town layout when I was looking at the area on Google Earth after the Oct 2013 air crash (Lao Airlines) in the Mekong at Pakse. From the air the street layout is quite striking.

 

I see that another poster had earlier raised this topic in Thaivisa in March 2007. The name of the place seems to have been clarified then by members as Si Muang Mai, but nobody at that time came up with any good explanation or insight into the background or history of the town's shape. There were no more posts after 2007. The topic was subsequently archived.

 

I remain curious as to how the town got its shape. Was it originally some sort of garrison town? Maybe today, with many more users of Google Earth, Google Street View etc, there are some new members who may have insights.

 

To recap location: just over half-way from Ubon to Thailand's easternmost point on the Mekong. 54km from downtown Ubon heading NE (heading 56 degrees to be precise).

 

For an impressive zoom-in on Google Earth enter: 15.493194N, 105.274957E  in the search box. Street View is also available all over the town.

 

Interested to hear any thoughts on the background of this town.

[Lamkyong]

poss a rice circle  (octagon)  

[Roota]

Some info on the town's history here. They don't specifically refer to the octagonal layout but it appears not to be very old. Probably the work of a creative town planner.

[Patriot]

I went through there once and was similarly intrigued, but couldn't get any reasoning from the locals.

Albeit the wrong end of Ubon, I think this is right up SantiSuk's strasse??? Any ideas??