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How the crowd draws

361 drawings of its land border and 609 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 19 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Somalia

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area474,000 km²183,000 sq mi525,000 km²203,000 sq mi10.8% bigger
Outline4,348 km2,702 mi4,265 km2,650 mi1.9% shorter
Centre45.68° E, 4.74° N45.7° E, 4.7° N46.13° E, 4.78° N46.1° E, 4.8° N50 km east31 mi east
Westernmost40.97° E, 2.66° N41.0° E, 2.7° N41.05° E, 0.14° S41.0° E, 0.1° S9 km short6 mi short
Easternmost51.41° E, 10.45° N51.4° E, 10.5° N51.23° E, 11.79° N51.2° E, 11.8° N20 km short12 mi short
Southernmost41.53° E, 1.69° S41.5° E, 1.7° S41.51° E, 1.78° S41.5° E, 1.8° S10 km beyond6 mi beyond
Northernmost50.78° E, 11.99° N50.8° E, 12.0° N51.22° E, 11.80° N51.2° E, 11.8° N21 km short13 mi short

Near the land border, 52% of the crowd’s lines run inside Somalia. Near the coast, 31% 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.

Somalia and Ethiopia: 853 km in the game, 1,640 km officially.

Somalia’s coast: 2,443 km in the game, 3,025 km officially.

3 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Ethiopia853 km in the game1,640 km officially801 km the crowd’s6.1% shorter
Kenya690 km in the game684 km officially683 km the crowd’s1.0% shorter
Somaliland392 km in the game383 km the crowd’s2.3% shorter
The coast2,443 km in the game3,025 km officially2,389 km the crowd’s2.2% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Somalia: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Somalia 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 970 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 Somalia yourself and add your line to the next update.