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How the crowd draws

1,951 drawings of its land border and 3,075 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s US map, 24 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw South Carolina

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area81,000 km²31,000 sq mi77,000 km²30,000 sq mi4.2% smaller
Outline1,372 km852 mi1,284 km798 mi6.4% shorter
Centre80.89° W, 33.91° N80.9° W, 33.9° N80.84° W, 33.87° N80.8° W, 33.9° N6 km south-east4 mi south-east
Westernmost83.35° W, 34.73° N83.3° W, 34.7° N83.20° W, 34.73° N83.2° W, 34.7° N13 km short8 mi short
Easternmost78.54° W, 33.85° N78.5° W, 33.9° N78.51° W, 33.84° N78.5° W, 33.8° N3 km beyond2 mi beyond
Southernmost80.89° W, 32.03° N80.9° W, 32.0° N80.88° W, 32.00° N80.9° W, 32.0° N4 km beyond2 mi beyond
Northernmost82.39° W, 35.21° N82.4° W, 35.2° N82.37° W, 35.13° N82.4° W, 35.1° N9 km short5 mi short

Near the land border, 61% of the crowd’s lines run inside South Carolina. Near the coast, 43% 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.

South Carolina’s coast: 394 km in the game, 301 km officially.

2 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
North Carolina511 km in the game501 km the crowd’s2.0% shorter
Georgia475 km in the game447 km the crowd’s5.9% shorter
The coast394 km in the game301 km officially336 km the crowd’s14.7% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s South Carolina: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside South 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 5,026 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 5,026.

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