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How the crowd draws

248 drawings of its land border, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 23 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area27,000 km²10,000 sq mi24,000 km²9,443 sq mi10.0% smaller
Outline900 km559 mi911 km566 mi1.2% longer
Centre29.88° E, 3.36° S29.9° E, 3.4° S29.90° E, 3.33° S29.9° E, 3.3° S4 km north-east2 mi north-east
Westernmost28.99° E, 2.80° S29.0° E, 2.8° S29.02° E, 2.79° S29.0° E, 2.8° S4 km short2 mi short
Easternmost30.83° E, 3.17° S30.8° E, 3.2° S30.78° E, 3.17° S30.8° E, 3.2° S5 km short3 mi short
Southernmost29.73° E, 4.46° S29.7° E, 4.5° S29.72° E, 4.43° S29.7° E, 4.4° S4 km short2 mi short
Northernmost30.38° E, 2.30° S30.4° E, 2.3° S29.93° E, 2.32° S29.9° E, 2.3° S2 km short1 mi short

Near the land border, 59% of the crowd’s lines run inside Burundi.

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.

Burundi and Tanzania: 418 km in the game, 589 km officially.

3 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Tanzania418 km in the game589 km officially417 km the crowd’s0.2% shorter
Rwanda265 km in the game315 km officially283 km the crowd’s6.8% longer
Dem. Rep. Congo219 km in the game236 km officially212 km the crowd’s3.2% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Burundi: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Burundi 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 248 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 Burundi yourself and add your line to the next update.