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How the crowd draws

189 drawings of its land border and 183 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Germany map, 25 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Baden-Württemberg

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area36,000 km²14,000 sq mi34,000 km²13,000 sq mi3.7% smaller
Outline1,387 km862 mi1,213 km754 mi12.5% shorter
Centre9.04° E, 48.54° N9.0° E, 48.5° N9.00° E, 48.53° N9.0° E, 48.5° N3 km south-west2 mi south-west
Westernmost7.51° E, 47.69° N7.5° E, 47.7° N7.53° E, 47.69° N7.5° E, 47.7° N2 km short1 mi short
Easternmost10.49° E, 48.69° N10.5° E, 48.7° N10.30° E, 48.99° N10.3° E, 49.0° N14 km short9 mi short
Southernmost7.69° E, 47.53° N7.7° E, 47.5° N7.94° E, 47.55° N7.9° E, 47.6° N2 km short2 mi short
Northernmost9.64° E, 49.79° N9.6° E, 49.8° N9.59° E, 49.77° N9.6° E, 49.8° N2 km short1 mi short

Near the land border, 55% of the crowd’s lines run inside Baden-Württemberg. Near the coast, 43% 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 states' statistics offices and governments (borders; Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's open-sea coast), 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.

Baden-Württemberg and Switzerland: 294 km in the game, 316 km officially.

5 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Bayern681 km in the game650 km the crowd’s4.6% shorter
Switzerland294 km in the game316 km officially214 km the crowd’s27.2% shorter
France178 km in the game179 km officially173 km the crowd’s2.8% shorter
Hessen150 km in the game141 km the crowd’s6.0% shorter
Rheinland-Pfalz97 km in the game94 km the crowd’s3.1% shorter
The coast108 km in the game52 km the crowd’s51.9% shorter

Watch the drawings

See every line on The Drawn Germany →
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the stateDownload (0.7 MB)
Another country and GermanyFrom where are you from; no answer left outDownload (0.6 MB)
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (0.8 MB)
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (0.9 MB)
Where drawings start and endStarts teal, ends pink, piled up blackDownload (0.2 MB)
The drawings stacked as blocksWhere many drawings pass, the stack growsDownload (1.6 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Baden-Württemberg: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Baden-Württemberg 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 372 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s Germany 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.

Measuring how far the crowd moves the centre was Matt Forrest’s idea (forrest.nyc).

Draw Baden-Württemberg yourself and add your line to the next update.