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How the crowd draws

398 drawings of its land border and 319 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Australia map, 26 September 2026 to 28 October 2026.

Draw Northern Territory

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area1,341,000 km²518,000 sq mi1,299,000 km²502,000 sq mi3.1% smaller
Outline7,126 km4,428 mi5,569 km3,461 mi21.8% shorter
Centre133.37° E, 19.42° S133.4° E, 19.4° S133.34° E, 19.46° S133.3° E, 19.5° S5 km south-west3 mi south-west
Westernmost129.00° E, 25.95° S129.0° E, 26.0° S128.95° E, 18.16° S128.9° E, 18.2° S5 km beyond3 mi beyond
Easternmost138.00° E, 25.93° S138.0° E, 25.9° S137.99° E, 24.17° S138.0° E, 24.2° S1 km short1 mi short
Southernmost133.48° E, 26.05° S133.5° E, 26.1° S137.91° E, 25.91° S137.9° E, 25.9° S15 km short10 mi short
Northernmost132.33° E, 11.12° S132.3° E, 11.1° S132.94° E, 11.69° S132.9° E, 11.7° S63 km short39 mi short

Near the land border, 56% of the crowd’s lines run inside Northern Territory. Near the coast, 61% 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.

Northern Territory’s coast: 4,545 km in the game, 5,438 km officially.

3 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Western Australia1,228 km in the game1,230 km the crowd’s0.2% longer
Queensland1,063 km in the game1,051 km the crowd’s1.1% shorter
South Australia898 km in the game884 km the crowd’s1.6% shorter
The coast4,545 km in the game5,438 km officially2,764 km the crowd’s39.2% 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 (0.6 MB)
Another country and AustraliaFrom where are you from; no answer left outDownload (0.7 MB)
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (0.8 MB)
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (0.8 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 (4.1 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Northern Territory: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Northern Territory 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 717 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 Northern Territory yourself and add your line to the next update.