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How the crowd draws

298 drawings of its land border, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 16 September 2026 to 26 October 2026.

Draw Mali

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area1,258,000 km²486,000 sq mi1,118,000 km²431,000 sq mi11.2% smaller
Outline6,675 km4,148 mi6,363 km3,954 mi4.7% shorter
Centre3.59° W, 17.32° N3.6° W, 17.3° N3.44° W, 17.51° N3.4° W, 17.5° N27 km north-east17 mi north-east
Westernmost12.28° W, 14.80° N12.3° W, 14.8° N11.54° W, 14.64° N11.5° W, 14.6° N80 km short49 mi short
Easternmost4.24° E, 17.08° N4.2° E, 17.1° N4.13° E, 19.05° N4.1° E, 19.0° N12 km short7 mi short
Southernmost7.01° W, 10.15° N7.0° W, 10.1° N5.95° W, 10.72° N6.0° W, 10.7° N63 km short39 mi short
Northernmost5.35° W, 25.00° N5.4° W, 25.0° N4.90° W, 24.77° N4.9° W, 24.8° N25 km short15 mi short

Near the land border, 62% of the crowd’s lines run inside Mali.

Borders

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.

Mali and Mauritania: 2,114 km in the game, 2,236 km officially.

7 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Mauritania2,114 km in the game2,236 km officially2,038 km the crowd’s3.6% shorter
Algeria1,236 km in the game1,359 km officially1,278 km the crowd’s3.4% longer
Burkina Faso1,030 km in the game1,325 km officially1,147 km the crowd’s11.4% longer
Niger829 km in the game838 km officially812 km the crowd’s2.1% shorter
Guinea730 km in the game1,062 km officially521 km the crowd’s28.6% shorter
Côte d'Ivoire439 km in the game599 km officially280 km the crowd’s36.2% shorter
Senegal340 km in the game489 km officially307 km the crowd’s9.7% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Mali: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Mali 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 298 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.

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