Immersive technologies are going mainstream. Improved in quality and affordable, they provide a unique opportunity for spatial sciences, which have, in parallel, witnessed tremendous advancements in 3D sensing and modeling technologies. These synergistic transitions allow spatial disciplines like geosciences, architecture, landscape architecture, or geography, to revisit possibilities for using immersive technologies for communicating and understanding spatial and environmental issues and challenges. What is missing is a more rigorous, scientific approach that provides evidence-based design guidelines for immersive experiences and allows for connecting theories developed in spatial sciences to the opportunities afforded by immersive experiences. Place, as an omnipresent concept in the sciences named above, has the potential to frame the theoretical basis for scientific grounding of immersive experiences. In this forum, immersive experiences for spatial sciences are discussed: immersive workbenches, experiences of past and future scenarios from Mayan Culture to forest futures, as well as virtual field trips. Empirical evidence will be detailed providing the basis for a deeper evaluation of whether or not immersive experiences are indeed a paradigm shift for Spatial Sciences.