When Airbnb first launched in 2008 it was considered little more than a couch-surfing network. But recently its been upping its game. We recently saw its move into publishing with Pineapple; a quarterly magazine about local people and experiences and now it’s released an interactive map showing where its customers are in real-time.

“Part of the challenge of building this experience was thinking through how we can marry the scale of Airbnb experiences happening around the globe with the nature of these experiences,” says Andrew Schapiro, Head of Art Department at Airbnb, whose task it was to visualise the brand’s global community.

Airbnb now has a network of 100,000 guests and hosts, who can be in over 190 countries at any one time. The map visualises this by showing check-ins, the location of guests, plus social posts thanking hosts for going the extra mile or tipping off other tourists about a new cultural hotspot, shared using the #OneLessStranger hashtag.

The design of the map is deliberately “whimsical and playful” according to Schapiro, but the purpose is undoubtedly serious; engaging customers and creating a network is a crucial part of increasing the quality of customer service for the travel industry.

Dutch airline KLM also recently launched a Must See Map that enables visitors to create a personalised city map, filled with tips and recommendations from friends, as well as a Meet & Seat service that matches like-minded flyers seating plans, using data pooled from their social-media accounts.

Read our Travel Report and interview with Chip Conley, Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality & Strategy, in the latest issue of the Protein Journal.