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How the crowd draws

1,219 drawings of its land border and 1,018 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 16 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Canary Islands53 drawings

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area499,000 km²193,000 sq mi491,000 km²190,000 sq mi1.6% smaller
Outline5,507 km3,422 mi5,116 km3,179 mi7.1% shorter
Centre3.51° W, 40.35° N3.5° W, 40.4° N3.31° W, 40.41° N3.3° W, 40.4° N18 km east11 mi east
Westernmost9.29° W, 42.92° N9.3° W, 42.9° N9.13° W, 43.04° N9.1° W, 43.0° N13 km short8 mi short
Easternmost4.33° E, 39.88° N4.3° E, 39.9° N4.30° E, 40.00° N4.3° E, 40.0° N2 km short2 mi short
Southernmost5.35° W, 35.86° N5.4° W, 35.9° N5.34° W, 35.88° N5.3° W, 35.9° N3 km short2 mi short
Northernmost7.69° W, 43.79° N7.7° W, 43.8° N7.52° W, 43.54° N7.5° W, 43.5° N28 km short17 mi short

Near the land border, 46% of the crowd’s lines run inside Spain. Near the coast, 60% 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.

Spain and Portugal: 1,065 km in the game, 1,224 km officially.

Spain’s coast: 3,205 km in the game, 4,964 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Portugal1,065 km in the game1,224 km officially899 km the crowd’s15.6% shorter
France564 km in the game646 km officially516 km the crowd’s8.5% shorter
Andorra53 km in the game42 km the crowd’s20.8% shorter
Morocco20 km in the game19 km officially19 km the crowd’s5.0% shorter
The coast3,205 km in the game4,964 km officially2,874 km the crowd’s10.3% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Spain: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Spain 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 2,237 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 2,237.

9 small pieces of Spain, 75 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.

Pieces the World map does not ask for are measured from the rounds that do: Illes Balears (50 drawings), Canarias (53 drawings).

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