← Spain

How the crowd draws

60 drawings of its land border and 59 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Spain map, 30 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area23,000 km²8,840 sq mi22,000 km²8,331 sq mi5.8% smaller
Outline1,127 km701 mi1,085 km674 mi3.8% shorter
Centre0.55° W, 39.38° N0.5° W, 39.4° N0.49° W, 39.42° N0.5° W, 39.4° N6 km north-east4 mi north-east
Westernmost1.53° W, 39.45° N1.5° W, 39.5° N1.36° W, 39.65° N1.4° W, 39.6° N14 km short9 mi short
Easternmost0.51° E, 40.52° N0.5° E, 40.5° N0.54° E, 40.54° N0.5° E, 40.5° N3 km beyond2 mi beyond
Southernmost0.78° W, 37.85° N0.8° W, 37.8° N0.75° W, 37.84° N0.8° W, 37.8° Nthe same
Northernmost0.17° W, 40.79° N0.2° W, 40.8° N0.01° W, 40.69° N0.0° W, 40.7° N11 km short7 mi short

Near the land border, 60% of the crowd’s lines run inside Comunidad Valenciana. Near the coast, 38% 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 Instituto Geográfico Nacional, via INE (coasts, 2008; islands left out on the mainland), 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.

Comunidad Valenciana’s coast: 501 km in the game, 518 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Aragón330 km in the game310 km the crowd’s6.1% shorter
Castilla-La Mancha303 km in the game276 km the crowd’s8.9% shorter
Región de Murcia113 km in the game108 km the crowd’s4.4% shorter
Cataluña48 km in the game48 km the crowd’sthe same
The coast501 km in the game518 km officially488 km the crowd’s2.6% shorter
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the regionDownload (0.3 MB)
Another country and SpainFrom where are you from; no answer left outDownload (0.3 MB)
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (0.4 MB)
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (0.4 MB)
Where drawings start and endStarts teal, ends pink, piled up blackDownload (0.2 MB)
The drawings stacked as blocksWhere many drawings pass, the stack growsDownload (1.4 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Comunidad Valenciana: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Comunidad Valenciana 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 119 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s Spain 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.

Measuring how far the crowd moves the centre was Matt Forrest’s idea (forrest.nyc).

Draw Comunidad Valenciana yourself and add your line to the next update.