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How the crowd draws

2,432 drawings of its land border and 2,303 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s US map, 24 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw New York

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area126,000 km²49,000 sq mi127,000 km²49,000 sq mi0.6% bigger
Outline2,355 km1,463 mi2,245 km1,395 mi4.7% shorter
Centre75.50° W, 42.94° N75.5° W, 42.9° N75.68° W, 42.99° N75.7° W, 43.0° N16 km west10 mi west
Westernmost79.76° W, 42.27° N79.8° W, 42.3° N79.75° W, 42.28° N79.8° W, 42.3° N1 km short1 mi short
Easternmost71.86° W, 41.07° N71.9° W, 41.1° N72.14° W, 40.97° N72.1° W, 41.0° N23 km short14 mi short
Southernmost73.93° W, 40.55° N73.9° W, 40.5° N73.96° W, 40.60° N74.0° W, 40.6° N6 km short4 mi short
Northernmost74.83° W, 45.01° N74.8° W, 45.0° N74.10° W, 45.09° N74.1° W, 45.1° N8 km beyond5 mi beyond

Near the land border, 59% of the crowd’s lines run inside New York. Near the coast, 37% 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.

New York and Canada: 339 km in the game, 716 km officially.

New York’s coast: 911 km in the game, 204 km officially.

6 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Pennsylvania507 km in the game500 km the crowd’s1.4% shorter
Canada339 km in the game716 km officially332 km the crowd’s2.1% shorter
Vermont287 km in the game292 km the crowd’s1.7% longer
New Jersey141 km in the game149 km the crowd’s5.7% longer
Connecticut135 km in the game134 km the crowd’s0.7% shorter
Massachusetts79 km in the game78 km the crowd’s1.3% shorter
The coast911 km in the game204 km officially784 km the crowd’s13.9% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s New York: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside New York 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 4,735 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 4,735.

Draw New York yourself and add your line to the next update.