“There are over 13,000 McDonald’s restaurants in the US, or about 1 for every 23,000 Americans. But even market penetration this advanced doesn’t mean that McDonald’s is everywhere. Somewhere in South Dakota is the McFarthest Spot, the place in the US geographically most removed from the nearest McD’s (*). If you started out from this location, a few miles north of State Highway 20 (which runs latitudinally between Highways 73 in the west and 65 in the east), you’d have to drive 145 miles to get your Big Mac…” (Strange Maps)

I would like to see an overlay of several maps of this sort, one for each of the major fast food places, one for Walmarts, etc. The cumulative effect, I suspect, would correlate quite well with the quality of life to be expected in various locales.