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How the crowd draws

149 drawings of its land border and 169 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Italy map, 30 September 2026 to 26 October 2026.

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area18,000 km²7,005 sq mi18,000 km²7,115 sq mi1.6% bigger
Outline990 km615 mi971 km603 mi1.9% shorter
Centre11.86° E, 45.65° N11.9° E, 45.6° N11.85° E, 45.63° N11.8° E, 45.6° N2 km south-west1 mi south-west
Westernmost10.63° E, 45.44° N10.6° E, 45.4° N10.64° E, 45.47° N10.6° E, 45.5° N1 km short1 mi short
Easternmost13.10° E, 45.64° N13.1° E, 45.6° N12.98° E, 45.61° N13.0° E, 45.6° N10 km short6 mi short
Southernmost12.40° E, 44.79° N12.4° E, 44.8° N12.40° E, 44.80° N12.4° E, 44.8° N1 km short1 mi short
Northernmost12.48° E, 46.68° N12.5° E, 46.7° N12.07° E, 46.69° N12.1° E, 46.7° N1 km beyond1 mi beyond

Near the land border, 51% of the crowd’s lines run inside Veneto. Near the coast, 44% 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.

Veneto’s coast: 212 km in the game, 159 km officially.

5 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Trentino-Alto Adige321 km in the game332 km the crowd’s3.4% longer
Friuli-Venezia Giulia233 km in the game249 km the crowd’s6.9% longer
Lombardia132 km in the game135 km the crowd’s2.3% longer
Emilia-Romagna104 km in the game95 km the crowd’s8.7% shorter
Austria21 km in the game22 km the crowd’s4.8% longer
The coast212 km in the game159 km officially162 km the crowd’s23.6% shorter
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 (0.4 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 (1.9 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Veneto: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Veneto 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 318 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 Veneto yourself and add your line to the next update.