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How the crowd draws

607 drawings of its land border and 779 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 16 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Belgium

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area31,000 km²12,000 sq mi28,000 km²11,000 sq mi8.3% smaller
Outline1,131 km703 mi1,029 km639 mi9.0% shorter
Centre4.65° E, 50.64° N4.6° E, 50.6° N4.61° E, 50.64° N4.6° E, 50.6° N3 km west2 mi west
Westernmost2.52° E, 51.09° N2.5° E, 51.1° N2.53° E, 51.09° N2.5° E, 51.1° N1 km short1 mi short
Easternmost6.37° E, 50.32° N6.4° E, 50.3° N6.28° E, 50.47° N6.3° E, 50.5° N7 km short4 mi short
Southernmost5.48° E, 49.49° N5.5° E, 49.5° N5.55° E, 49.61° N5.5° E, 49.6° N13 km short8 mi short
Northernmost4.76° E, 51.50° N4.8° E, 51.5° N4.40° E, 51.43° N4.4° E, 51.4° N7 km short4 mi short

Near the land border, 58% of the crowd’s lines run inside Belgium. Near the coast, 71% run inland.

Borders and 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 the CIA World Factbook, 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.

Belgium and France: 402 km in the game, 556 km officially.

Belgium’s coast: 66 km in the game, 67 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
France402 km in the game556 km officially371 km the crowd’s7.7% shorter
Netherlands307 km in the game478 km officially283 km the crowd’s7.8% shorter
Luxembourg94 km in the game130 km officially82 km the crowd’s12.8% shorter
Germany93 km in the game133 km officially86 km the crowd’s7.5% shorter
The coast66 km in the game67 km officially65 km the crowd’s1.5% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Belgium: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Belgium 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 1,386 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s World 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. The map lays the 1,000 most recent; the heat map, the crowd’s shape and every figure use all 1,386.

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