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How the crowd draws

142 drawings of its land border and 211 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Germany map, 25 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Schleswig-Holstein

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area15,000 km²5,933 sq mi14,000 km²5,589 sq mi5.8% smaller
Outline1,202 km747 mi1,029 km639 mi14.4% shorter
Centre9.84° E, 54.18° N9.8° E, 54.2° N9.77° E, 54.21° N9.8° E, 54.2° N6 km north-west4 mi north-west
Westernmost8.28° E, 54.76° N8.3° E, 54.8° N8.28° E, 55.01° N8.3° E, 55.0° Nthe same
Easternmost11.31° E, 54.40° N11.3° E, 54.4° N11.30° E, 54.41° N11.3° E, 54.4° N1 km short1 mi short
Southernmost10.58° E, 53.36° N10.6° E, 53.4° N10.57° E, 53.39° N10.6° E, 53.4° N3 km short2 mi short
Northernmost8.43° E, 55.06° N8.4° E, 55.1° N8.45° E, 55.17° N8.5° E, 55.2° N13 km beyond8 mi beyond

Near the land border, 51% of the crowd’s lines run inside Schleswig-Holstein. Near the coast, 60% 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 the states' statistics offices and governments (borders; Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's open-sea coast), 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.

Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark: 75 km in the game, 68 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern121 km in the game116 km the crowd’s4.1% shorter
Hamburg115 km in the game111 km the crowd’s3.5% shorter
Denmark75 km in the game68 km officially64 km the crowd’s14.7% shorter
Niedersachsen21 km in the game16 km the crowd’s23.8% shorter
The coast953 km in the game782 km the crowd’s17.9% shorter

Watch the drawings

See every line on The Drawn Germany →
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the stateDownload (0.7 MB)
Another country and GermanyFrom where are you from; no answer left outDownload (0.6 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 (1.6 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Schleswig-Holstein: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Schleswig-Holstein 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 353 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s Germany 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 Schleswig-Holstein yourself and add your line to the next update.