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How the crowd draws

115 drawings of its land border and 100 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Germany map, 25 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area23,000 km²8,841 sq mi23,000 km²8,756 sq mi1.0% smaller
Outline1,760 km1,093 mi1,290 km802 mi26.7% shorter
Centre12.53° E, 53.75° N12.5° E, 53.8° N12.58° E, 53.73° N12.6° E, 53.7° N4 km south-east2 mi south-east
Westernmost10.59° E, 53.37° N10.6° E, 53.4° N10.68° E, 53.43° N10.7° E, 53.4° N6 km short3 mi short
Easternmost14.41° E, 53.34° N14.4° E, 53.3° N14.46° E, 53.33° N14.5° E, 53.3° N3 km beyond2 mi beyond
Southernmost11.40° E, 53.11° N11.4° E, 53.1° N11.38° E, 53.12° N11.4° E, 53.1° N1 km short1 mi short
Northernmost13.39° E, 54.68° N13.4° E, 54.7° N13.27° E, 54.64° N13.3° E, 54.6° N5 km short3 mi short

Near the land border, 47% of the crowd’s lines run inside Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Near the coast, 57% 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.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Poland: 53 km in the game, 78 km officially.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s coast: 1,278 km in the game, 377 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Brandenburg404 km in the game407 km the crowd’s0.7% longer
Schleswig-Holstein118 km in the game109 km the crowd’s7.6% shorter
Niedersachsen73 km in the game68 km the crowd’s6.8% shorter
Poland53 km in the game78 km officially57 km the crowd’s7.5% longer
The coast1,278 km in the game377 km officially762 km the crowd’s40.4% 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 (0.5 MB)
Another country and GermanyFrom where are you from; no answer left outDownload (0.5 MB)
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (0.7 MB)
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (0.7 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 (2.3 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 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 215 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 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern yourself and add your line to the next update.