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How the crowd draws

43 drawings of its land border and 47 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Spain map, 30 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw País Vasco

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area7,523 km²2,905 sq mi7,746 km²2,991 sq mi3.0% bigger
Outline694 km431 mi700 km435 mi1.0% longer
Centre2.62° W, 43.03° N2.6° W, 43.0° N2.57° W, 43.05° N2.6° W, 43.1° N5 km north-east3 mi north-east
Westernmost3.45° W, 43.24° N3.4° W, 43.2° N3.42° W, 43.14° N3.4° W, 43.1° N2 km short1 mi short
Easternmost1.73° W, 43.30° N1.7° W, 43.3° N1.73° W, 43.29° N1.7° W, 43.3° Nthe same
Southernmost2.60° W, 42.47° N2.6° W, 42.5° N2.56° W, 42.52° N2.6° W, 42.5° N5 km short3 mi short
Northernmost2.75° W, 43.46° N2.8° W, 43.5° N1.79° W, 43.41° N1.8° W, 43.4° N5 km short3 mi short

Near the land border, 48% of the crowd’s lines run inside País Vasco. Near the coast, 37% 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.

País Vasco’s coast: 192 km in the game, 246 km officially.

5 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Castilla y León232 km in the game261 km the crowd’s12.5% longer
Navarra227 km in the game222 km the crowd’s2.2% shorter
La Rioja108 km in the game109 km the crowd’s0.9% longer
Cantabria62 km in the game67 km the crowd’s8.1% longer
France21 km in the game28 km the crowd’s33.3% longer
The coast192 km in the game246 km officially157 km the crowd’s18.2% 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 (0.4 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 (1.7 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s País Vasco: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside País Vasco 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 90 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 País Vasco yourself and add your line to the next update.