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How the crowd draws

68 drawings of its land border and 62 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Spain map, 30 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Galicia

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area30,000 km²11,000 sq mi27,000 km²10,000 sq mi9.4% smaller
Outline1,541 km958 mi1,182 km734 mi23.3% shorter
Centre7.91° W, 42.76° N7.9° W, 42.8° N7.91° W, 42.77° N7.9° W, 42.8° N1 km north1 mi north
Westernmost9.30° W, 43.05° N9.3° W, 43.1° N9.10° W, 43.05° N9.1° W, 43.0° N16 km short10 mi short
Easternmost6.73° W, 42.32° N6.7° W, 42.3° N6.79° W, 42.34° N6.8° W, 42.3° N4 km short3 mi short
Southernmost8.13° W, 41.81° N8.1° W, 41.8° N8.24° W, 41.89° N8.2° W, 41.9° N9 km short6 mi short
Northernmost7.68° W, 43.79° N7.7° W, 43.8° N7.69° W, 43.68° N7.7° W, 43.7° N12 km short7 mi short

Near the land border, 61% of the crowd’s lines run inside Galicia. Near the coast, 66% 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.

Galicia’s coast: 1,161 km in the game, 1,498 km officially.

3 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Portugal279 km in the game269 km the crowd’s3.6% shorter
Castilla y León197 km in the game207 km the crowd’s5.1% longer
Asturias155 km in the game156 km the crowd’s0.6% longer
The coast1,161 km in the game1,498 km officially725 km the crowd’s37.6% 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 (0.3 MB)
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (0.4 MB)
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (0.5 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 (1.4 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Galicia: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Galicia 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 130 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 Galicia yourself and add your line to the next update.