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How the crowd draws the

508 drawings of its land border and 622 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 17 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw the United Arab Emirates

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area71,000 km²27,000 sq mi81,000 km²31,000 sq mi14.1% bigger
Outline1,851 km1,150 mi1,810 km1,125 mi2.2% shorter
Centre54.30° E, 23.90° N54.3° E, 23.9° N54.17° E, 23.86° N54.2° E, 23.9° N14 km west9 mi west
Westernmost51.57° E, 24.25° N51.6° E, 24.2° N51.45° E, 24.27° N51.5° E, 24.3° N12 km beyond8 mi beyond
Easternmost56.38° E, 25.32° N56.4° E, 25.3° N56.38° E, 24.98° N56.4° E, 25.0° Nthe same
Southernmost55.11° E, 22.62° N55.1° E, 22.6° N55.12° E, 22.57° N55.1° E, 22.6° N5 km beyond3 mi beyond
Northernmost56.15° E, 26.07° N56.2° E, 26.1° N56.06° E, 26.08° N56.1° E, 26.1° Nthe same

Near the land border, 36% of the crowd’s lines run inside the United Arab Emirates. Near the coast, 42% 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.

United Arab Emirates and Oman: 476 km in the game, 609 km officially.

United Arab Emirates’s coast: 904 km in the game, 1,318 km officially.

2 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Oman476 km in the game609 km officially463 km the crowd’s2.7% shorter
Saudi Arabia460 km in the game457 km officially488 km the crowd’s6.1% longer
The coast904 km in the game1,318 km officially810 km the crowd’s10.4% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s United Arab Emirates: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside the United Arab Emirates 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 1,130 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 1,130.

9 small pieces of the United Arab Emirates, 714 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 the United Arab Emirates yourself and add your line to the next update.