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How the crowd draws

2,803 drawings of its land border and 3,116 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s US map, 24 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw California

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area409,000 km²158,000 sq mi408,000 km²158,000 sq mi0.3% smaller
Outline3,632 km2,257 mi3,274 km2,034 mi9.9% shorter
Centre119.47° W, 37.20° N119.5° W, 37.2° N119.55° W, 37.13° N119.6° W, 37.1° N10 km south-west6 mi south-west
Westernmost124.41° W, 40.44° N124.4° W, 40.4° N124.26° W, 41.78° N124.3° W, 41.8° N13 km short8 mi short
Easternmost114.13° W, 34.26° N114.1° W, 34.3° N114.30° W, 34.25° N114.3° W, 34.2° N15 km short10 mi short
Southernmost117.12° W, 32.53° N117.1° W, 32.5° N117.17° W, 32.51° N117.2° W, 32.5° N3 km beyond2 mi beyond
Northernmost122.20° W, 42.01° N122.2° W, 42.0° N121.93° W, 42.01° N121.9° W, 42.0° Nthe same

Near the land border, 59% of the crowd’s lines run inside California. Near the coast, 41% 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 NOAA (coasts, 1975), the International Boundary Commission (Canada) and the USGS (Mexico), 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. Great Lakes shores are not in NOAA's figures.

The boundary commission’s lengths with Canada include the line through the Great Lakes and the straits, which the game does not draw; where that is most of a state’s border (Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania), no official length is shown.

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.

California and Mexico: 228 km in the game, 226 km officially.

California’s coast: 1,766 km in the game, 1,352 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Nevada984 km in the game971 km the crowd’s1.3% shorter
Arizona348 km in the game322 km the crowd’s7.5% shorter
Oregon345 km in the game344 km the crowd’s0.3% shorter
Mexico228 km in the game226 km officially226 km the crowd’s0.9% shorter
The coast1,766 km in the game1,352 km officially1,438 km the crowd’s18.6% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s California: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside California 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 5,919 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s US 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 5,919.

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