Mobility and materiality are pervasive and revealing features of professional vision. In this paper I examine how landscape architects assess visual and landscape effects of proposed urban or rural developments. A focus on mobility and materiality reveals a struggle for objectivity and transparency, and the lived reality of Latour’s observation that “we have never been modern”. But it also highlights the emergence of new forms of perception and epistemic practice. Based on work with landscape architects and computer scientists in participatory technology research and design projects, I present an analysis of current practices and some observations on emerging future practices of appreciating and shaping places.