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How the crowd draws

250 drawings of its land border, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 16 September 2026 to 26 October 2026.

Draw Botswana

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area581,000 km²224,000 sq mi576,000 km²222,000 sq mi0.8% smaller
Outline3,526 km2,191 mi3,402 km2,114 mi3.5% shorter
Centre23.81° E, 22.17° S23.8° E, 22.2° S23.87° E, 22.24° S23.9° E, 22.2° S10 km south-east6 mi south-east
Westernmost19.98° E, 23.69° S20.0° E, 23.7° S20.00° E, 22.02° S20.0° E, 22.0° S2 km short1 mi short
Easternmost29.36° E, 22.19° S29.4° E, 22.2° S28.93° E, 21.86° S28.9° E, 21.9° S44 km short27 mi short
Southernmost21.64° E, 26.85° S21.6° E, 26.9° S20.80° E, 26.67° S20.8° E, 26.7° S20 km short13 mi short
Northernmost25.22° E, 17.79° S25.2° E, 17.8° S25.12° E, 17.91° S25.1° E, 17.9° S14 km short9 mi short

Near the land border, 51% of the crowd’s lines run inside Botswana.

Borders

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.

Botswana and South Africa: 1,463 km in the game, 1,969 km officially.

3 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
South Africa1,463 km in the game1,969 km officially1,390 km the crowd’s5.0% shorter
Namibia1,329 km in the game1,544 km officially1,307 km the crowd’s1.7% shorter
Zimbabwe740 km in the game834 km officially709 km the crowd’s4.2% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Botswana: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Botswana 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 250 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.

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