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How the crowd draws

466 drawings of its land border and 829 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 21 September 2026 to 26 October 2026.

Draw Costa Rica

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area51,000 km²20,000 sq mi53,000 km²21,000 sq mi3.9% bigger
Outline1,921 km1,194 mi1,796 km1,116 mi6.5% shorter
Centre84.19° W, 9.97° N84.2° W, 10.0° N84.01° W, 9.86° N84.0° W, 9.9° N23 km south-east15 mi south-east
Westernmost85.95° W, 10.90° N85.9° W, 10.9° N85.75° W, 10.26° N85.8° W, 10.3° N21 km short13 mi short
Easternmost82.56° W, 9.54° N82.6° W, 9.5° N82.46° W, 9.52° N82.5° W, 9.5° N11 km beyond7 mi beyond
Southernmost82.90° W, 8.04° N82.9° W, 8.0° N82.91° W, 8.01° N82.9° W, 8.0° N3 km beyond2 mi beyond
Northernmost85.60° W, 11.21° N85.6° W, 11.2° N85.60° W, 11.15° N85.6° W, 11.2° N6 km short4 mi short

Near the land border, 45% of the crowd’s lines run inside Costa Rica. Near the coast, 47% 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.

Costa Rica and Nicaragua: 266 km in the game, 313 km officially.

Costa Rica’s coast: 1,395 km in the game, 1,290 km officially.

2 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Nicaragua266 km in the game313 km officially248 km the crowd’s6.8% shorter
Panama250 km in the game348 km officially272 km the crowd’s8.8% longer
The coast1,395 km in the game1,290 km officially1,203 km the crowd’s13.8% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Costa Rica: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Costa Rica 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 1,295 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 1,295.

2 small pieces of Costa Rica, 42 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.

Draw Costa Rica yourself and add your line to the next update.