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How the crowd draws

63 drawings of its land border and 59 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Spain map, 30 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Andalucía

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area88,000 km²34,000 sq mi83,000 km²32,000 sq mi5.8% smaller
Outline1,741 km1,082 mi1,665 km1,034 mi4.4% shorter
Centre4.58° W, 37.47° N4.6° W, 37.5° N4.69° W, 37.50° N4.7° W, 37.5° N10 km west6 mi west
Westernmost7.52° W, 37.55° N7.5° W, 37.6° N7.51° W, 37.55° N7.5° W, 37.6° N1 km short1 mi short
Easternmost1.64° W, 37.37° N1.6° W, 37.4° N1.63° W, 37.37° N1.6° W, 37.4° N1 km beyond1 mi beyond
Southernmost5.61° W, 36.00° N5.6° W, 36.0° N5.47° W, 36.09° N5.5° W, 36.1° N9 km short6 mi short
Northernmost5.04° W, 38.73° N5.0° W, 38.7° N4.93° W, 38.63° N4.9° W, 38.6° N11 km short7 mi short

Near the land border, 53% of the crowd’s lines run inside Andalucía. Near the coast, 63% 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 Instituto Geográfico Nacional, via INE (coasts, 2008; islands left out on the mainland), 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.

Andalucía’s coast: 847 km in the game, 945 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Castilla-La Mancha370 km in the game357 km the crowd’s3.5% shorter
Extremadura322 km in the game300 km the crowd’s6.8% shorter
Portugal164 km in the game167 km the crowd’s1.8% longer
Región de Murcia116 km in the game113 km the crowd’s2.6% shorter
The coast847 km in the game945 km officially796 km the crowd’s6.0% shorter

Watch the drawings

See every line on The Drawn Spain →
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the regionDownload (0.3 MB)
Another country and SpainFrom where are you from; no answer left outDownload (0.2 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 (0.1 MB)
The drawings stacked as blocksWhere many drawings pass, the stack growsDownload (2.0 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Andalucía: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Andalucía 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 122 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s Spain 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 Andalucía yourself and add your line to the next update.