Using Human raters to characterize the psychological characteristics of GPS-based places

This paper showcases an approach to combining smartphone sensing technology, web mapping services, and psychological assessments to enhance our understanding of the psychological characteristics of places. For two weeks, twenty-six students used a smartphone app that passively collected GPS sensor data. Human raters then characterized their most frequently visited places on a number of psychological characteristics, such as ambience (e.g. how safe, urban, lively a place was perceived) and personality (e.g. a place's perceived extroversion and conscientiousness). We explored the relationship between these place characteristics and participants own personality traits, showing how the personality traits of the average visitor to a location can be similar or different from the place's characteristics. We conclude with a discussion of how this approach can be used in future research on places.