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How the crowd draws

396 drawings of its land border and 723 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 16 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Syria

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area187,000 km²72,000 sq mi180,000 km²69,000 sq mi4.0% smaller
Outline2,289 km1,422 mi2,105 km1,308 mi8.0% shorter
Centre38.47° E, 35.00° N38.5° E, 35.0° N38.42° E, 35.02° N38.4° E, 35.0° N4 km west3 mi west
Westernmost35.59° E, 33.02° N35.6° E, 33.0° N35.81° E, 32.99° N35.8° E, 33.0° N21 km short13 mi short
Easternmost42.38° E, 37.06° N42.4° E, 37.1° N42.32° E, 37.07° N42.3° E, 37.1° N5 km short3 mi short
Southernmost36.80° E, 32.31° N36.8° E, 32.3° N36.78° E, 32.39° N36.8° E, 32.4° N8 km short5 mi short
Northernmost42.21° E, 37.32° N42.2° E, 37.3° N42.21° E, 37.23° N42.2° E, 37.2° N10 km short6 mi short

Near the land border, 54% of the crowd’s lines run inside Syria. Near the coast, 77% 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.

Syria and Turkey: 719 km in the game, 899 km officially.

Syria’s coast: 177 km in the game, 193 km officially.

5 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Turkey719 km in the game899 km officially655 km the crowd’s8.9% shorter
Iraq593 km in the game599 km officially593 km the crowd’sthe same
Jordan346 km in the game379 km officially318 km the crowd’s8.1% shorter
Lebanon283 km in the game403 km officially232 km the crowd’s18.0% shorter
Israel79 km in the game83 km officially56 km the crowd’s29.1% shorter
The coast177 km in the game193 km officially159 km the crowd’s10.2% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Syria: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Syria 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 1,119 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 1,119.

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