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How the crowd draws

39 drawings of its land border and 41 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s France map, 25 September 2026 to 26 October 2026.

Draw Manche

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area6,004 km²2,318 sq mi5,661 km²2,186 sq mi5.7% smaller
Outline648 km402 mi527 km327 mi18.6% shorter
Centre1.33° W, 49.08° N1.3° W, 49.1° N1.35° W, 49.12° N1.4° W, 49.1° N5 km north3 mi north
Westernmost1.95° W, 49.67° N1.9° W, 49.7° N1.95° W, 49.67° N1.9° W, 49.7° Nthe same
Easternmost0.74° W, 48.69° N0.7° W, 48.7° N0.84° W, 48.68° N0.8° W, 48.7° N8 km short5 mi short
Southernmost1.38° W, 48.46° N1.4° W, 48.5° N1.41° W, 48.48° N1.4° W, 48.5° N3 km short2 mi short
Northernmost1.92° W, 49.73° N1.9° W, 49.7° N1.43° W, 49.73° N1.4° W, 49.7° Nthe same

Near the land border, 61% of the crowd’s lines run inside Manche. Near the coast, 38% 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.

Manche’s coast: 378 km in the game, 438 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Calvados171 km in the game113 km the crowd’s33.9% shorter
Ille-et-Vilaine67 km in the game94 km the crowd’s40.3% longer
Orne43 km in the game30 km the crowd’s30.2% shorter
Mayenne21 km in the game16 km the crowd’s23.8% shorter
The coast378 km in the game438 km officially296 km the crowd’s21.7% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Manche: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Manche 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 80 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 Manche yourself and add your line to the next update.