I’m currently attending a three day course on ArcGIS so I can learn how to create cool looking maps and what not for my employer. Our first hands on exercise involved manipulating a map of roads, railroads, and donut shops (yes, donut shops) in Redlands, CA (I thought the reference to Redlands was pretty random until I learned that ESRI, the author of ArcGIS, is based in Redlands). Step six was:

“Now you will identify all donut shops that are within 1,000 meters (0.62 miles) of Interstate 10 for all those hungry commuters driving between Palm Springs to Los Angeles.”

WTF? Who commutes from Palm Springs to Los Angeles (and has time to stop for donuts)? That’s over 200 miles roundtrip.

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