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How the crowd draws

23 drawings of its land border and 43 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Mexico map, 18 October 2026 to 26 October 2026.

Draw Baja California

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area71,000 km²28,000 sq mi82,000 km²31,000 sq mi14.0% bigger
Outline1,954 km1,214 mi1,796 km1,116 mi8.1% shorter
Centre115.09° W, 30.57° N115.1° W, 30.6° N115.12° W, 30.55° N115.1° W, 30.6° N4 km south-west2 mi south-west
Westernmost117.13° W, 32.49° N117.1° W, 32.5° N117.20° W, 32.56° N117.2° W, 32.6° N7 km beyond4 mi beyond
Easternmost112.77° W, 28.00° N112.8° W, 28.0° N112.77° W, 28.00° N112.8° W, 28.0° Nthe same
Southernmost112.80° W, 28.00° N112.8° W, 28.0° N114.24° W, 27.99° N114.2° W, 28.0° N1 km beyond0 mi beyond
Northernmost114.72° W, 32.72° N114.7° W, 32.7° N114.74° W, 32.71° N114.7° W, 32.7° N1 km short1 mi short

Near the land border, 55% of the crowd’s lines run inside Baja California. Near the coast, 34% 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 INEGI (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.

Baja California’s coast: 1,507 km in the game, 1,493 km officially.

3 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
United States of America263 km in the game274 km the crowd’s4.2% longer
Baja California Sur141 km in the game142 km the crowd’s0.7% longer
Sonora106 km in the game109 km the crowd’s2.8% longer
The coast1,507 km in the game1,493 km officially1,306 km the crowd’s13.3% shorter

Watch the drawings

See every line on The Drawn Mexico →
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the stateDownload (0.3 MB)
Not enough drawings yet
Another country and MexicoFrom where are you from; no answer left out3 of 10 drawings from another country needed
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (0.4 MB)
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (0.4 MB)
Where drawings start and endStarts teal, ends pink, piled up blackDownload (0.1 MB)
The drawings stacked as blocksWhere many drawings pass, the stack growsDownload (1.5 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Baja California: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Baja California 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 66 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s Mexico 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 Baja California yourself and add your line to the next update.