Edinburgh Napier University

  This paper describes the application and results of
two studies using a qualitative tool designed to examine
sense of place in relation to presence research in the
BENOGO project. The ‘place probe’ incorporates a
range of techniques aimed at articulating a person’s
sense of place, these include: verbal descriptions; sketch
maps; salient features; semantic differentials and six
words that best describe the experience of being in a
place. The paper will describe the application of the
probe in both a physical place and a virtual
representation of that place. The Analysis of the results
reveals a similarity of reported experience in both
places, but that the extremes experienced in the physical
place were more flattened in the virtual representation