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How the crowd draws

50 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Spain map, 30 September 2026 to 26 October 2026.

Draw Illes Balears

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area4,978 km²1,922 sq mi4,943 km²1,908 sq mi0.7% smaller
Outline838 km521 mi940 km584 mi12.2% longer
Centre2.91° E, 39.58° N2.9° E, 39.6° N2.91° E, 39.57° N2.9° E, 39.6° N1 km south1 mi south
Westernmost1.21° E, 38.90° N1.2° E, 38.9° N1.23° E, 38.97° N1.2° E, 39.0° N1 km short1 mi short
Easternmost4.33° E, 39.88° N4.3° E, 39.9° N4.30° E, 40.00° N4.3° E, 40.0° N2 km short1 mi short
Southernmost1.39° E, 38.64° N1.4° E, 38.6° N1.40° E, 38.63° N1.4° E, 38.6° N1 km beyond0 mi beyond
Northernmost4.09° E, 40.09° N4.1° E, 40.1° N4.08° E, 40.10° N4.1° E, 40.1° N1 km beyond1 mi beyond

Near the coast, 49% run inland.

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.

Illes Balears’s coast: 903 km in the game, 1,428 km officially.

Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
The coast903 km in the game1,428 km officially1,016 km the crowd’s12.5% longer

Watch the drawings

See every line on The Drawn Spain →
Not enough drawings yet
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the region12 of 20 drawings needed on each side
Not enough drawings yet
Another country and SpainFrom where are you from; no answer left out18 of 20 drawings from Spain needed
Not enough drawings yet
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawing18 of 20 drawings needed on each side
Not enough drawings yet
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first line18 of 20 drawings needed on each side
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 Illes Balears: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Illes Balears 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 50 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 Illes Balears yourself and add your line to the next update.