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How the crowd draws

32 drawings of its land border and 56 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
Area6,992 km²2,699 sq mi6,838 km²2,640 sq mi2.2% smaller
Outline576 km358 mi557 km346 mi3.3% shorter
Centre1.68° W, 47.36° N1.7° W, 47.4° N1.66° W, 47.36° N1.7° W, 47.4° N2 km east1 mi east
Westernmost2.56° W, 47.37° N2.6° W, 47.4° N2.50° W, 47.45° N2.5° W, 47.5° N4 km short3 mi short
Easternmost0.95° W, 47.43° N0.9° W, 47.4° N0.94° W, 47.38° N0.9° W, 47.4° N1 km beyond0 mi beyond
Southernmost1.55° W, 46.86° N1.5° W, 46.9° N1.46° W, 46.91° N1.5° W, 46.9° N5 km short3 mi short
Northernmost1.47° W, 47.84° N1.5° W, 47.8° N1.40° W, 47.80° N1.4° W, 47.8° N3 km short2 mi short

Near the land border, 46% of the crowd’s lines run inside Loire-Atlantique. Near the coast, 66% 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.

Loire-Atlantique’s coast: 120 km in the game, 208 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Maine-et-Loire176 km in the game197 km the crowd’s11.9% longer
Vendée148 km in the game156 km the crowd’s5.4% longer
Ille-et-Vilaine91 km in the game83 km the crowd’s8.8% shorter
Morbihan61 km in the game56 km the crowd’s8.2% shorter
The coast120 km in the game208 km officially81 km the crowd’s32.5% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Loire-Atlantique: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Loire-Atlantique 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 88 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 Loire-Atlantique yourself and add your line to the next update.