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How the crowd draws

334 drawings of its land border and 408 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Australia map, 26 September 2026 to 28 October 2026.

Draw New South Wales

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area800,000 km²309,000 sq mi831,000 km²321,000 sq mi3.8% bigger
Outline5,148 km3,199 mi4,432 km2,754 mi13.9% shorter
Centre147.03° E, 32.18° S147.0° E, 32.2° S147.11° E, 32.15° S147.1° E, 32.2° S8 km north-east5 mi north-east
Westernmost141.00° E, 29.07° S141.0° E, 29.1° S141.03° E, 29.34° S141.0° E, 29.3° S3 km short2 mi short
Easternmost153.63° E, 28.65° S153.6° E, 28.7° S153.57° E, 28.32° S153.6° E, 28.3° S7 km short4 mi short
Southernmost149.98° E, 37.50° S150.0° E, 37.5° S150.03° E, 37.51° S150.0° E, 37.5° S1 km beyond0 mi beyond
Northernmost153.49° E, 28.16° S153.5° E, 28.2° S153.53° E, 28.31° S153.5° E, 28.3° S17 km short10 mi short

Near the land border, 51% of the crowd’s lines run inside New South Wales. Near the coast, 35% 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 Geoscience Australia (mainland coasts, islands left out), 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.

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 South Wales’s coast: 2,262 km in the game, 1,973 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Victoria1,472 km in the game1,431 km the crowd’s2.8% shorter
Queensland1,453 km in the game1,382 km the crowd’s4.9% shorter
South Australia556 km in the game551 km the crowd’s0.9% shorter
Australian Capital Territory257 km in the game–
The coast2,262 km in the game1,973 km officially1,494 km the crowd’s34.0% shorter

Watch the drawings

See every line on The Drawn Australia →
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the stateDownload (0.7 MB)
Another country and AustraliaFrom where are you from; no answer left outDownload (0.9 MB)
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (1.0 MB)
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (1.0 MB)
Where drawings start and endStarts teal, ends pink, piled up blackDownload (0.2 MB)
The drawings stacked as blocksWhere many drawings pass, the stack growsDownload (4.7 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s New South Wales: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside New South Wales 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 742 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s Australia 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.

Measuring how far the crowd moves the centre was Matt Forrest’s idea (forrest.nyc).

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