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How the crowd draws

157 drawings of its land border and 231 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Italy map, 30 September 2026 to 26 October 2026.

Draw Marche

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area9,318 km²3,598 sq mi8,548 km²3,300 sq mi8.3% smaller
Outline586 km364 mi576 km358 mi1.6% shorter
Centre13.14° E, 43.34° N13.1° E, 43.3° N13.14° E, 43.33° N13.1° E, 43.3° N2 km south1 mi south
Westernmost12.19° E, 43.64° N12.2° E, 43.6° N12.25° E, 43.60° N12.2° E, 43.6° N5 km short3 mi short
Easternmost13.92° E, 42.90° N13.9° E, 42.9° N13.95° E, 42.88° N13.9° E, 42.9° N2 km beyond2 mi beyond
Southernmost13.39° E, 42.69° N13.4° E, 42.7° N13.39° E, 42.71° N13.4° E, 42.7° N2 km short1 mi short
Northernmost12.75° E, 43.97° N12.8° E, 44.0° N12.75° E, 43.96° N12.8° E, 44.0° N1 km short0 mi short

Near the land border, 52% of the crowd’s lines run inside Marche. Near the coast, 77% 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 ISPRA (coasts, 2020, each region's islands included), 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.

Marche’s coast: 170 km in the game, 181 km officially.

5 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Umbria218 km in the game216 km the crowd’s0.9% shorter
Emilia-Romagna75 km in the game83 km the crowd’s10.7% longer
Abruzzo63 km in the game63 km the crowd’sthe same
Toscana46 km in the game37 km the crowd’s19.6% shorter
Lazio18 km in the game19 km the crowd’s5.6% longer
The coast170 km in the game181 km officially159 km the crowd’s6.5% shorter

Watch the drawings

See every line on The Drawn Italy →
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the regionDownload (0.6 MB)
Another country and ItalyFrom where are you from; no answer left outDownload (0.5 MB)
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (0.3 MB)
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (0.3 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 (1.7 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Marche: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Marche 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 388 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s Italy 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 Marche yourself and add your line to the next update.