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How the crowd draws

15 drawings of its land border and 44 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Mexico map, 1 October 2026 to 28 October 2026.

Draw Michoacán

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area59,000 km²23,000 sq mi58,000 km²23,000 sq mi0.7% smaller
Outline1,757 km1,092 mi1,838 km1,142 mi4.6% longer
Centre101.88° W, 19.21° N101.9° W, 19.2° N101.90° W, 19.19° N101.9° W, 19.2° N2 km south-west2 mi south-west
Westernmost103.74° W, 18.69° N103.7° W, 18.7° N103.79° W, 18.68° N103.8° W, 18.7° N5 km beyond3 mi beyond
Easternmost100.06° W, 19.86° N100.1° W, 19.9° N100.14° W, 19.87° N100.1° W, 19.9° N8 km short5 mi short
Southernmost102.19° W, 17.91° N102.2° W, 17.9° N102.00° W, 17.92° N102.0° W, 17.9° Nthe same
Northernmost102.01° W, 20.39° N102.0° W, 20.4° N101.97° W, 20.36° N102.0° W, 20.4° N4 km short2 mi short

Near the land border, 51% of the crowd’s lines run inside Michoacán. Near the coast, 81% 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.

Michoacán’s coast: 212 km in the game, 228 km officially.

6 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Jalisco504 km in the game424 km the crowd’s15.9% shorter
Guanajuato449 km in the game516 km the crowd’s14.9% longer
Guerrero395 km in the game434 km the crowd’s9.9% longer
Estado de México218 km in the game228 km the crowd’s4.6% longer
Colima62 km in the game65 km the crowd’s4.8% longer
Querétaro52 km in the game82 km the crowd’s57.7% longer
The coast212 km in the game228 km officially207 km the crowd’s2.4% shorter

Watch the drawings

See every line on The Drawn Mexico →
Not enough drawings yet
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the state19 of 20 drawings needed on each side
Not enough drawings yet
Another country and MexicoFrom where are you from; no answer left out1 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 (1.7 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Michoacán: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Michoacán 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 59 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 Michoacán yourself and add your line to the next update.