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How the crowd draws the

781 drawings of its land border and 815 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 17 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw the Netherlands

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area36,000 km²14,000 sq mi36,000 km²14,000 sq mi1.4% smaller
Outline1,508 km937 mi1,362 km847 mi9.6% shorter
Centre5.59° E, 52.26° N5.6° E, 52.3° N5.56° E, 52.24° N5.6° E, 52.2° N3 km south-west2 mi south-west
Westernmost3.35° E, 51.37° N3.4° E, 51.4° N3.35° E, 51.39° N3.3° E, 51.4° Nthe same
Easternmost7.20° E, 53.22° N7.2° E, 53.2° N7.19° E, 53.23° N7.2° E, 53.2° N1 km short0 mi short
Southernmost5.97° E, 50.75° N6.0° E, 50.7° N5.74° E, 50.79° N5.7° E, 50.8° N4 km short3 mi short
Northernmost6.72° E, 53.46° N6.7° E, 53.5° N6.76° E, 53.38° N6.8° E, 53.4° N8 km short5 mi short

Near the land border, 48% of the crowd’s lines run inside the Netherlands. Near the coast, 53% 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 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.

Netherlands and Germany: 409 km in the game, 575 km officially.

Netherlands’s coast: 692 km in the game, 451 km officially.

2 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Germany409 km in the game575 km officially396 km the crowd’s3.2% shorter
Belgium308 km in the game478 km officially281 km the crowd’s8.8% shorter
The coast692 km in the game451 km officially579 km the crowd’s16.3% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Netherlands: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside the Netherlands 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 1,596 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. The map lays the 1,000 most recent; the heat map, the crowd’s shape and every figure use all 1,596.

7 small pieces of the Netherlands, 595 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 the Netherlands yourself and add your line to the next update.