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How the crowd draws

464 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 23 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Madagascar

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area594,000 km²229,000 sq mi538,000 km²208,000 sq mi9.4% smaller
Outline5,074 km3,153 mi4,473 km2,780 mi11.8% shorter
Centre46.74° E, 19.32° S46.7° E, 19.3° S46.90° E, 19.27° S46.9° E, 19.3° S18 km east11 mi east
Westernmost43.22° E, 22.25° S43.2° E, 22.2° S43.66° E, 21.96° S43.7° E, 22.0° S45 km short28 mi short
Easternmost50.50° E, 15.30° S50.5° E, 15.3° S50.20° E, 15.91° S50.2° E, 15.9° S32 km short20 mi short
Southernmost45.15° E, 25.59° S45.1° E, 25.6° S45.41° E, 25.20° S45.4° E, 25.2° S44 km short27 mi short
Northernmost49.28° E, 11.95° S49.3° E, 11.9° S49.36° E, 12.29° S49.4° E, 12.3° S38 km short23 mi short

Near the coast, 60% run inland.

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 CIA World Factbook, 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.

Madagascar’s coast: 5,265 km in the game, 4,828 km officially.

Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
The coast5,265 km in the game4,828 km officially4,642 km the crowd’s11.8% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Madagascar: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Madagascar 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 464 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s World 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.

2 small pieces of Madagascar, 498 km² in all, keep their real shape, shown flat: islands no round asks players to draw, or too small to measure. They count in no figure.

Draw Madagascar yourself and add your line to the next update.