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How the crowd draws

18 drawings of its land border and 63 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s France map, 25 September 2026 to 26 October 2026.

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area4,285 km²1,655 sq mi4,362 km²1,684 sq mi1.8% bigger
Outline442 km275 mi476 km296 mi7.7% longer
Centre7.12° E, 43.94° N7.1° E, 43.9° N7.11° E, 43.94° N7.1° E, 43.9° N1 km north-west1 mi north-west
Westernmost6.64° E, 43.79° N6.6° E, 43.8° N6.65° E, 43.79° N6.6° E, 43.8° N1 km short1 mi short
Easternmost7.72° E, 44.08° N7.7° E, 44.1° N7.68° E, 44.06° N7.7° E, 44.1° N3 km short2 mi short
Southernmost6.93° E, 43.48° N6.9° E, 43.5° N6.95° E, 43.48° N6.9° E, 43.5° Nthe same
Northernmost6.89° E, 44.36° N6.9° E, 44.4° N6.89° E, 44.35° N6.9° E, 44.4° N1 km short1 mi short

Near the land border, 48% of the crowd’s lines run inside Alpes-Maritimes. Near the coast, 45% 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 Observatoire national de la mer et du littoral (coasts, 2015 to 2017), 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.

Alpes-Maritimes’s coast: 83 km in the game, 182 km officially.

3 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Italy182 km in the game193 km the crowd’s6.0% longer
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence125 km in the game162 km the crowd’s29.6% longer
Var64 km in the game74 km the crowd’s15.6% longer
The coast83 km in the game182 km officially57 km the crowd’s31.3% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Alpes-Maritimes: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Alpes-Maritimes 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 81 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s France 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 Alpes-Maritimes yourself and add your line to the next update.