Jim Cser from Portland writes:
To follow up on your earlier Starbucks post, I got inspired and created a KML file of (almost) all the Starbucks in the world, based on data from their website. It only has the ones they map, which excludes most of Asia, but it’s still around 9,000.
He’s posted the KML file online. I obviously had to complete the circle and run Jim’s file through the center of gravity calculator. Without further ado, here is the world’s “densest” spot for Starbucks shops:
Perhaps unexpectedly, it’s on farmland in Northern Nebraska, 40km South of the nearest Starbucks in Yankton, South Dakota.
Given the “weight” of the 9,000 Starbucks that are mapped, the true center of gravity is unlikely to wander far from this spot if a couple of Asian stores were to be added. The precise spot is here in Tagzania.
Interesting how so many GE fans and Starbucks themselves just throw away Asia.
To do all the work to calculate a CoG and know the whole time that you are ignoring the largest continent is nonsensical to me. There are a significant number of Starbucks in Asia .. those who ignore Asia are those who write letters to the editor of their newspapers about the blankety-blank Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans (fill in the blank) are robbing us of our jobs.
It is really surprising that the parent company ignores their Asian holdings … the class of well-heeled coffee drinkers who frequent Starbucks travel extensively, surely often to Asia.
Someday the world will be round, Captain Columbus, it’s only a matter of time.