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How the crowd draws

33 drawings of its land border and 37 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Mexico map, 18 October 2026 to 28 October 2026.

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area64,000 km²25,000 sq mi64,000 km²25,000 sq mi0.0% bigger
Outline1,612 km1,002 mi1,604 km996 mi0.5% shorter
Centre99.92° W, 17.67° N99.9° W, 17.7° N99.89° W, 17.64° N99.9° W, 17.6° N4 km south-east2 mi south-east
Westernmost102.18° W, 18.02° N102.2° W, 18.0° N102.13° W, 17.94° N102.1° W, 17.9° N5 km short3 mi short
Easternmost98.01° W, 17.04° N98.0° W, 17.0° N97.99° W, 17.04° N98.0° W, 17.0° N2 km beyond1 mi beyond
Southernmost98.55° W, 16.32° N98.6° W, 16.3° N98.53° W, 16.20° N98.5° W, 16.2° N13 km beyond8 mi beyond
Northernmost100.62° W, 18.88° N100.6° W, 18.9° N100.75° W, 18.81° N100.7° W, 18.8° N8 km short5 mi short

Near the land border, 54% of the crowd’s lines run inside Guerrero. Near the coast, 40% 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.

Guerrero’s coast: 490 km in the game, 522 km officially.

5 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Michoacán394 km in the game335 km the crowd’s15.0% shorter
Oaxaca291 km in the game346 km the crowd’s18.9% longer
Estado de México260 km in the game266 km the crowd’s2.3% longer
Puebla155 km in the game167 km the crowd’s7.7% longer
Morelos96 km in the game90 km the crowd’s6.3% shorter
The coast490 km in the game522 km officially462 km the crowd’s5.7% shorter
Not enough drawings yet
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the state17 of 20 drawings needed on each side
Not enough drawings yet
Another country and MexicoFrom where are you from; no answer left out6 of 10 drawings from another country needed
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 (0.1 MB)
The drawings stacked as blocksWhere many drawings pass, the stack growsDownload (1.5 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Guerrero: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Guerrero 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 70 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 Guerrero yourself and add your line to the next update.