The general average distance problem, introduced by Buttazzo, Oudet, and Stepanov,  asks to find a good way to approximate a high-dimensional object, represented as a measure, by a one-dimensional object. We will discuss two variants of the problem: one where the one-dimensional object is a measure with connected one-dimensional support and one where it is an embedded curve. We will present examples that show that even if the data measure is smooth the nonlocality of the functional can cause the minimizers to have corners. Nevertheless the curvature of the minimizer can be considered as a measure. We will discuss a priori estimates on the total curvature and ways to obtain information on topological complexity of the minimizers. We will furthermore discuss functionals that take the transport along the network into account and model best ways to design transportation networks. (Based on joint works with Xin Yang Lu and Slav Kirov.)