← France

How the crowd draws

32 drawings of its land border and 62 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s France map, 25 September 2026 to 26 October 2026.

Draw Somme

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area6,175 km²2,384 sq mi5,921 km²2,286 sq mi4.1% smaller
Outline586 km364 mi481 km299 mi18.0% shorter
Centre2.28° E, 49.96° N2.3° E, 50.0° N2.25° E, 49.97° N2.3° E, 50.0° N2 km north-west1 mi north-west
Westernmost1.38° E, 50.06° N1.4° E, 50.1° N1.38° E, 50.06° N1.4° E, 50.1° Nthe same
Easternmost3.20° E, 49.98° N3.2° E, 50.0° N3.10° E, 49.96° N3.1° E, 50.0° N8 km short5 mi short
Southernmost2.65° E, 49.57° N2.7° E, 49.6° N2.65° E, 49.60° N2.7° E, 49.6° N4 km short2 mi short
Northernmost1.63° E, 50.37° N1.6° E, 50.4° N1.62° E, 50.36° N1.6° E, 50.4° N1 km short1 mi short

Near the land border, 54% of the crowd’s lines run inside Somme. 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 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.

Somme’s coast: 71 km in the game, 75 km officially.

5 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Pas-de-Calais239 km in the game208 km the crowd’s13.0% shorter
Oise186 km in the game152 km the crowd’s18.3% shorter
Aisne61 km in the game40 km the crowd’s34.4% shorter
Seine-Maritime56 km in the game55 km the crowd’s1.8% shorter
Nord10 km in the game2 km the crowd’s80.0% shorter
The coast71 km in the game75 km officially50 km the crowd’s29.6% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Somme: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Somme 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 94 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 Somme yourself and add your line to the next update.