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How the crowd draws

199 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Australia map, 26 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Tasmania

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area68,000 km²26,000 sq mi65,000 km²25,000 sq mi3.9% smaller
Outline3,463 km2,152 mi2,530 km1,572 mi27.0% shorter
Centre146.59° E, 41.93° S146.6° E, 41.9° S146.53° E, 41.89° S146.5° E, 41.9° S7 km north-west4 mi north-west
Westernmost143.84° E, 39.92° S143.8° E, 39.9° S143.82° E, 39.92° S143.8° E, 39.9° S1 km beyond1 mi beyond
Easternmost148.47° E, 40.44° S148.5° E, 40.4° S148.47° E, 40.44° S148.5° E, 40.4° Sthe same
Southernmost146.84° E, 43.63° S146.8° E, 43.6° S146.70° E, 43.55° S146.7° E, 43.5° S10 km short6 mi short
Northernmost143.96° E, 39.59° S144.0° E, 39.6° S143.97° E, 39.65° S144.0° E, 39.6° S6 km short4 mi short

Near the coast, 62% run inland.

Coast

Why two lengths?

A line’s length depends on how closely it is drawn. The game’s lines are simplified: they keep a point every few kilometres and cut across small bends. The official lengths, from Geoscience Australia (mainland coasts, islands left out), are measured on other lines. A border measured on a finer line, following every bend of its rivers and ridges, comes out longer.

Coasts differ most, and either way. Some official coastlines follow every inlet and island (Canada’s 202,080 km); others are smoothed on purpose, crossing bays and sounds (the United States’ 19,924 km), and can come out shorter than the game’s.

Players draw against the game’s line and are scored against it, so the crowd’s length is compared with the game’s, both measured the same way. Set against an official length measured another way, the comparison would say more about the two methods than about the crowd.

Tasmania’s coast: 3,773 km in the game, 2,827 km officially.

Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
The coast3,773 km in the game2,827 km officially2,378 km the crowd’s37.0% shorter

Watch the drawings

See every line on The Drawn Australia →
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the stateDownload (0.9 MB)
Another country and AustraliaFrom where are you from; no answer left outDownload (1.2 MB)
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (1.4 MB)
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (1.4 MB)
Where drawings start and endStarts teal, ends pink, piled up blackDownload (0.2 MB)
The drawings stacked as blocksWhere many drawings pass, the stack growsDownload (2.9 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Tasmania: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Tasmania or outside it; the median over a short stretch is where the crowd puts the line there, and the real outline moved by it is the crowd’s. Where the move folds a narrow inlet over itself, the loop is cut.

The 199 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s Australia map, scribbles left out, the real line the game’s own. Area true to scale; the outline copies the real line’s detail, so its length changes only where the shape moves or a loop is cut.

10 small pieces of Tasmania, 93 km² in all, keep their real shape, shown flat: islands no round asks players to draw, or too small to measure. They count in no figure.

Measuring how far the crowd moves the centre was Matt Forrest’s idea (forrest.nyc).

Draw Tasmania yourself and add your line to the next update.