The value of 9.80665 m/s^2 as standard acceleration due to gravity on Earth was somewhat arbitrarily chosen, and does not, for example, represent a average over the surface of the Earth.
If they were going to choose something arbitrarily, one wishes they had chosen something more convenient, like 9.8. This would have helped communicate that gravity starts varying already at the second decimal place in different parts of the world (9.76 - 9.83 m/s^2).
Where on the Earth's surface has exactly standard gravity? Close? This question can also be extended to the third dimension: how far up or down must one go to reach standard gravity?
What is the value of gravitational acceleration averaged over the surface of the earth? We now have the instruments, e.g., the GRACE satellites, which can make the necessary measurements for computing this. Averaged over the land area? What is the statistical distribution of values?
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