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How the crowd draws

967 drawings of its land border and 256 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 17 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Papua New Guinea

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area454,000 km²175,000 sq mi460,000 km²178,000 sq mi1.5% bigger
Outline7,832 km4,867 mi7,701 km4,785 mi1.7% shorter
Centre145.09° E, 6.48° S145.1° E, 6.5° S145.04° E, 6.32° S145.0° E, 6.3° S18 km north11 mi north
Westernmost140.86° E, 6.68° S140.9° E, 6.7° S140.96° E, 6.68° S141.0° E, 6.7° S12 km short7 mi short
Easternmost155.96° E, 6.71° S156.0° E, 6.7° S155.91° E, 6.71° S155.9° E, 6.7° S6 km short4 mi short
Southernmost150.21° E, 10.70° S150.2° E, 10.7° S150.66° E, 10.54° S150.7° E, 10.5° S18 km short11 mi short
Northernmost150.83° E, 2.56° S150.8° E, 2.6° S141.05° E, 2.61° S141.1° E, 2.6° S5 km short3 mi short

Near the land border, 65% of the crowd’s lines run inside Papua New Guinea. Near the coast, 45% 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.

Papua New Guinea and Indonesia: 729 km in the game, 824 km officially.

Papua New Guinea’s coast: 7,594 km in the game, 5,152 km officially.

1 neighbour
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Indonesia729 km in the game824 km officially716 km the crowd’s1.8% shorter
The coast7,594 km in the game5,152 km officially7,462 km the crowd’s1.7% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Papua New Guinea: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Papua New Guinea 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 1,223 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 1,223.

54 small pieces of Papua New Guinea, 14,000 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 Papua New Guinea yourself and add your line to the next update.