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How the crowd draws

1,637 drawings of its land border and 2,568 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s US map, 24 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Maine

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area85,000 km²33,000 sq mi82,000 km²32,000 sq mi4.1% smaller
Outline1,842 km1,145 mi1,759 km1,093 mi4.5% shorter
Centre69.24° W, 45.35° N69.2° W, 45.4° N69.20° W, 45.34° N69.2° W, 45.3° N3 km east2 mi east
Westernmost71.08° W, 45.30° N71.1° W, 45.3° N71.01° W, 45.34° N71.0° W, 45.3° N6 km short4 mi short
Easternmost66.98° W, 44.83° N67.0° W, 44.8° N67.14° W, 45.19° N67.1° W, 45.2° N12 km short8 mi short
Southernmost70.70° W, 43.06° N70.7° W, 43.1° N70.70° W, 43.04° N70.7° W, 43.0° N2 km beyond1 mi beyond
Northernmost69.22° W, 47.46° N69.2° W, 47.5° N68.32° W, 47.32° N68.3° W, 47.3° N15 km short9 mi short

Near the land border, 55% of the crowd’s lines run inside Maine. Near the coast, 53% 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.

Maine and Canada: 794 km in the game, 983 km officially.

Maine’s coast: 820 km in the game, 367 km officially.

2 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Canada794 km in the game983 km officially785 km the crowd’s1.1% shorter
New Hampshire263 km in the game241 km the crowd’s8.4% shorter
The coast820 km in the game367 km officially746 km the crowd’s9.0% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Maine: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Maine 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 4,205 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 4,205.

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