Senseplace

Senseplace is a multidisciplinary concept, and in some contexts a software platform, that examines how sensory experiences shape the perception and use of physical spaces. The term combines sense and place to describe environments defined by their sensory character—soundscapes, textures, smells, lighting, and tactile cues—as well as the technological or informational context that accompanies them.

Origins and scope: Senseplace draws on sensorial geography, environmental psychology, and human–computer interaction. In academic discourse, it refers to the study of how multisensory cues, memory, and social meaning influence people’s sense of place. In technology contexts, senseplace is used to describe platforms or workflows that map sensory data to geographic locations, enabling immersive storytelling, augmented reality, or urban analytics.

Data and methods: Typical approaches include sensor networks for sound, air quality, or light; wearable or mobile ethnography; surveys; and GIS-based visualization. Data models emphasize multimodal attributes (for example, brightness, noise level, odor intensity) and temporal dynamics.

Applications: Senseplace informs urban design and heritage interpretation, tourism, accessibility research, and immersive media experiences. It can support participatory planning by translating residents’ sensorial experiences into map-based narratives.

Challenges and critique: The concept faces subjectivity in sensory experience, privacy concerns, data standardization issues, and risks of overquantifying lived experience. See also sense of place, sensory geography, and geovisualization.