Top: median interstellar extinction as a function of Galactic radius (blue line) as well as a smoothed version (orange line). Middle: average extinction in the Galactic plane. The solar position is indicated at x = −8, y = 0. Bottom: comparison of our dust density with the H₂ mass surface density as a function of Galactic radius from Fig. 7 of Heyer & Dame (2015). Distances have been scaled to R_⊙ = 8 kpc and the vertical axes have been arbitrarily scaled.