← Every country

How the crowd draws

359 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 23 September 2026 to 26 October 2026.

Draw Sri Lanka

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area66,000 km²26,000 sq mi59,000 km²23,000 sq mi11.1% smaller
Outline1,741 km1,082 mi1,204 km748 mi30.8% shorter
Centre80.71° E, 7.61° N80.7° E, 7.6° N80.72° E, 7.63° N80.7° E, 7.6° N3 km north-east2 mi north-east
Westernmost79.70° E, 8.12° N79.7° E, 8.1° N79.82° E, 7.23° N79.8° E, 7.2° N14 km short9 mi short
Easternmost81.89° E, 7.02° N81.9° E, 7.0° N81.77° E, 7.35° N81.8° E, 7.4° N14 km short9 mi short
Southernmost80.59° E, 5.93° N80.6° E, 5.9° N80.58° E, 6.06° N80.6° E, 6.1° N14 km short9 mi short
Northernmost80.23° E, 9.83° N80.2° E, 9.8° N79.99° E, 9.76° N80.0° E, 9.8° N8 km short5 mi short

Near the coast, 62% run inland.

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.

Sri Lanka’s coast: 1,804 km in the game, 1,340 km officially.

Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
The coast1,804 km in the game1,340 km officially1,248 km the crowd’s30.8% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Sri Lanka: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Sri Lanka 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 359 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.

4 small pieces of Sri Lanka, 323 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 Sri Lanka yourself and add your line to the next update.