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How the crowd draws

1,794 drawings of its land border and 2,877 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s US map, 24 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw North Carolina

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area130,000 km²50,000 sq mi119,000 km²46,000 sq mi8.4% smaller
Outline3,099 km1,926 mi2,234 km1,388 mi27.9% shorter
Centre79.36° W, 35.56° N79.4° W, 35.6° N79.24° W, 35.56° N79.2° W, 35.6° N11 km east7 mi east
Westernmost84.32° W, 34.99° N84.3° W, 35.0° N84.20° W, 35.19° N84.2° W, 35.2° N11 km short7 mi short
Easternmost75.54° W, 35.79° N75.5° W, 35.8° N75.79° W, 35.92° N75.8° W, 35.9° N23 km short14 mi short
Southernmost78.53° W, 33.85° N78.5° W, 33.9° N78.53° W, 33.87° N78.5° W, 33.9° N2 km short1 mi short
Northernmost81.65° W, 36.59° N81.7° W, 36.6° N79.28° W, 36.52° N79.3° W, 36.5° N7 km short4 mi short

Near the land border, 58% of the crowd’s lines run inside North Carolina. Near the coast, 58% 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.

North Carolina’s coast: 1,615 km in the game, 484 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Virginia518 km in the game508 km the crowd’s1.9% shorter
South Carolina510 km in the game497 km the crowd’s2.5% shorter
Tennessee390 km in the game384 km the crowd’s1.5% shorter
Georgia111 km in the game96 km the crowd’s13.5% shorter
The coast1,615 km in the game484 km officially774 km the crowd’s52.1% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s North Carolina: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside North Carolina 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 4,671 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 4,671.

Draw North Carolina yourself and add your line to the next update.