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How the crowd draws

169 drawings of its land border and 159 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Italy map, 30 September 2026 to 26 October 2026.

Draw Calabria

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area15,000 km²5,819 sq mi15,000 km²5,639 sq mi3.1% smaller
Outline817 km508 mi844 km524 mi3.3% longer
Centre16.35° E, 39.06° N16.3° E, 39.1° N16.33° E, 39.14° N16.3° E, 39.1° N9 km north6 mi north
Westernmost15.63° E, 38.10° N15.6° E, 38.1° N15.66° E, 38.23° N15.7° E, 38.2° N3 km short2 mi short
Easternmost17.21° E, 39.03° N17.2° E, 39.0° N17.10° E, 38.90° N17.1° E, 38.9° N9 km short6 mi short
Southernmost15.77° E, 37.92° N15.8° E, 37.9° N15.78° E, 37.97° N15.8° E, 38.0° N6 km short4 mi short
Northernmost16.42° E, 40.14° N16.4° E, 40.1° N16.42° E, 40.14° N16.4° E, 40.1° Nthe same

Near the land border, 44% of the crowd’s lines run inside Calabria. Near the coast, 49% 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 ISPRA (coasts, 2020, each region's islands included), 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.

Calabria’s coast: 691 km in the game, 746 km officially.

1 neighbour
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Basilicata132 km in the game148 km the crowd’s12.1% longer
The coast691 km in the game746 km officially693 km the crowd’s0.3% longer

Watch the drawings

See every line on The Drawn Italy →
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the regionDownload (0.5 MB)
Another country and ItalyFrom where are you from; no answer left outDownload (0.5 MB)
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (0.3 MB)
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (0.3 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 (1.5 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Calabria: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Calabria 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 328 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s Italy 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 Calabria yourself and add your line to the next update.