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How the crowd draws

31 drawings of its land border and 51 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
Area11,000 km²4,367 sq mi11,000 km²4,089 sq mi6.4% smaller
Outline648 km402 mi577 km359 mi10.9% shorter
Centre1.49° W, 38.00° N1.5° W, 38.0° N1.46° W, 37.99° N1.5° W, 38.0° N3 km south-east2 mi south-east
Westernmost2.34° W, 38.03° N2.3° W, 38.0° N2.23° W, 38.06° N2.2° W, 38.1° N10 km short6 mi short
Easternmost0.69° W, 37.63° N0.7° W, 37.6° N0.73° W, 37.88° N0.7° W, 37.9° N4 km short2 mi short
Southernmost1.63° W, 37.37° N1.6° W, 37.4° N1.63° W, 37.37° N1.6° W, 37.4° N1 km beyond0 mi beyond
Northernmost1.19° W, 38.75° N1.2° W, 38.8° N1.15° W, 38.73° N1.2° W, 38.7° N3 km short2 mi short

Near the land border, 58% of the crowd’s lines run inside Región de Murcia. Near the coast, 44% 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.

Región de Murcia’s coast: 235 km in the game, 274 km officially.

3 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Castilla-La Mancha197 km in the game201 km the crowd’s2.0% longer
Andalucía122 km in the game125 km the crowd’s2.5% longer
Comunidad Valenciana114 km in the game116 km the crowd’s1.8% longer
The coast235 km in the game274 km officially143 km the crowd’s39.1% 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 (1.6 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Región de Murcia: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Región de Murcia 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 82 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 Región de Murcia yourself and add your line to the next update.