Environmental noise mapping for professionals
Visualise Road, Rail and Site Noise the way you want
Show
contribution Show
of noise from height of
different objects by
sources colour-
coding
NoiseMap five is a comprehensive professional It is equally suited to the large-scale mapping
system for the assessment of environmental noise of entire cities, for the detailed evaluation of
from roads, railways and all types of open-site and infrastructure schemes and for the design of
industrial projects. building developments and mitigation such as
noise barriers, and for engineering operations.
Noise maps
The noise level of an area is calculated and stored
in the database. This can be done by one stand-
alone computer, or for very large projects, multiple
computers* can join in the calculation process. The
stored results can be recalled as required and the
noise map is then drawn. The contour spacing and
colouring system is chosen when the contour is dis-
played, for flexibility. The map can cover any size
of area, divided into 500-metre square tiles.
You can choose which of the model objects you
display on the map. For example, you can show
roads, railways and other working locations, build-
ings, noise barriers, ground contours and features
such as water areas and administrative boundaries.
Vertical noise contours
Conventional noise contours are useful for showing
the distribution of noise over an area, but when
planning the layout of a development, it can be use-
ful to see the vertical spread of noise. This helps to
show how one building can shield another one from
noise.
NoiseMap allows a grid of receivers to be entered
into the noise model, from which a vertical noise
contour can be easily generated.
Façade noise levels
Another useful way of showing noise levels is to use
an automatic function of NoiseMap to generate
receivers around the facades of buildings. This can
be done for each floor level. Then the noise levels at
these receiver points can be drawn in colour for any
chosen floor level.
3-d perspective view of noise levels (see cover)
This is perhaps the most sophisticated way of show-
ing noise levels across a development and is very
easy to do with NoiseMap. Firstly, receivers are
generated at the building facades as described
above, and then the perspective view is generated
by means of a single button click. The 3-d model can
then be viewed and ‘flown through’ in real time.
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Database previewer
The database previewer shows the structure of all the noise
models in the database and lets you easily select the one that
you require.
Scenarios
Most noise modelling work requires many different ‘scenarios’
to be modelled—these could be different scheme options, dif-
ferent dates, different types of mitigation and so on. Very of-
ten, one scenario is just a variation of another scenario, and
NoiseMap displays a ‘tree’ showing how one scenario is related
to another. There is no limit‡ to the number of scenarios you
can have in the database.
Named areas
Noise models can cover very large areas. You can give a name
to any area of the model so that you can easily select it for
loading and editing at any time.
Difference contours
You can display the difference between any contours—in this
example showing the effect of increasing the height of a noise
barrier.
You could also show the difference caused by introducing a
transport scheme, or changing traffic flows or the sound power
levels of plant. You can even show the difference between day
and night noise levels or different noise indices.
The contour comparison feature also lets you add together
different noise contours, perhaps from different sources, to
see the combined effect.
Evaluation of noise sources
Most projects involve the evaluation of noise from various
sources. These could be completely different types of source,
such as roads, railways and industrial sources, or it could be dif-
ferent ‘categories’ of the same type of source, such as unaltered,
altered and new roads, or daytime and night-time engineering
work.
NoiseMap lets you assign each noise source to a ‘category’ and
then it sub-totals the noise within each category and for any com-
bination of categories. This lets you see quickly which types of
noise source are creating the most noise, and lets you assess the
contribution of noise from each type, as required by the Noise
Insulation Regulations.
* Remote database system
‡ Computer and disk capacity will provide the ultimate limit.
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Finding objects
In large models, it could be difficult to locate a particular
object, but NoiseMap lets you find any object by searching
on the value of any parameter.
In the example shown here, the user is searching for receiv-
ers where the noise from all roads at second floor level is 68
dB or more.
You can either highlight the first one in the model, and then
scroll through the rest one-by-one, or you can highlight all
of them at once.
The display shifts so that the first one is centred on the
screen.
Many of the individual object property windows also have a
‘highlight’ or scroll button that selects the specific object on
-screen.
The All Output Screen
The Output Screen provides a comprehensive record of your
work during a NoiseMap session. It shows the NoiseMap ver-
sion number and your licence details, the file system or server
to which you are connected (in this case an ordinary stand-
alone flat file) and the database that you have loaded.
When you undertake a calculation run, it shows the calcula-
tion method and if you are doing a local calculation, it shows
the results. You can choose for the full calculation detail to be
shown if required for checking the model or evaluating the
performance of a particular barrier.
Script Interface
NoiseMap provides a script interface that lets you automate
many tasks, including loading and converting Shapefiles,
initiating complex calculation procedures, and downloading
and outputting results to external files.
Script Commands can be taken from a script file or entered
manually in the Command Pane window at the bottom of the
Output Screen.
Script example
The script file here sets various traffic flow and road surface
parameters and then calls a separate script file (not shown) to
run the calculations and store the noise levels in the database.
The levels are also exported to an external spreadsheet.
This allows a complex series of tests to be run on various road
configurations in order to find the optimum design.
Scripting may allow third-party add-ins to be provided for
more sophisticated noise mapping operations in future.
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Sophisticated labelling
You can label each object with any of its parameters that
you choose.
In this illustration, road segments have been labelled with
the vehicle flow rate. Noise barriers are also shown to
help the user to locate them, but ground contours have
been turned off to avoid overcrowding the display.
View-as-colour
Additionally, the receivers have been labelled with the
noise level arising from all roads (at ground floor level).
The receiver noise levels have been colour-coded accord-
ing to their noise level. Almost any object property can
be colour-coded in this way.
3-D Source positioning
All noise sources are positioned in three dimensions, plus
their height relative to local ground. This allows noise
sources to be elevated, for example a railway on a via-
duct.
The illustration shows a civil engineering site modelled in
SiteNoise. The black squares represent working loca-
tions. Some of them are at the new ground level in the
bottom of an excavation, whilst others are elevated above
the level of the excavation.
Receiver points can also be seen in buildings overlooking
the excavation.
This 3-D view was created from the current noise model
by the click of a single button.
Cross-sections
These provide a rapid way to checking the vertical posi-
tioning of the objects in your model.
They show the position of noise sources, buildings, to-
pography and ground formation, and noise barriers at a
scale of your choosing.
The receiver points are also shown and can be coloured
according to their noise level. This provides a rapid visu-
alisation of the variation of noise in the vertical plane.
Calculation time period
You can set the calculation time period for Road, Rail and
Site Noise calculations to a value of your choice.
For Road Traffic Noise Calculations, you can calculate Lden
from a variety of time periods, and you can even calculate
individual hourly noise levels and then scroll through
them in the noise contour display.
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Traffic flow management
Traffic flow data is presented in tabular form to make
it easy to read large sets of data. Traffic flows as-
signed to road segments are shown in bold and the
number of segments assigned is given.
When you select a road segment, the corresponding
line of traffic flow data is highlighted for convenience.
You can also highlight the roads using any particular
traffic flow.
You can use 18-hour, 1-hour, day/evening/night or
24×1-hour flows.
Traffic flows can be entered manually into the traffic
flow table, or can be imported from a spreadsheet,
which can be useful when obtained from traffic mod-
elling software.
You can easily assign different sets of traffic flow data
to the same model, simply by importing a new set of
traffic data using the same reference numbers, and
saving them to a new scenario.
Plant database
You can build up a comprehensive database
of plant to be used in civil engineering pro-
jects which you can then import into differ-
ent noise models.
Plant data can be entered as a sound power
level, an LAeq at 10 m or an LAmax at 10 m, and
can include just the A-weighted value or also
an octave spectrum.
It is then simple to assign the required plant
to a particular work activity.
Each item of plant need only be entered once
and can be used in any number of activities.
Activity Manager
You can have any number of civil engineering activities
in a model and each activity can use any number of
items of plant.
Moreover, each activity can be placed at any number of
working locations, which is often required when model-
ling different phases in the progress of the work.
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Working locations
A working location can have any number of activities located
at it. To add activities to a working location, you firstly se-
lect the location and in the properties window (shown here)
you select from the drop-down list of activities, those that
you want to be added to this location.
The properties windows are clear and consistent, showing
all the parameters that affect the object.
A simple help prompt at the bottom of the window gives
you a brief reminder of the selected property and the Help
button will open the detailed User Manual at the correct
page to give you comprehensive guidance.
Road, rail and other objects have similar property windows
relevant to their specific parameters.
Railway noise
Large railway networks can be simply modelled in
NoiseMap. You can import a database of rail vehicles from a
spreadsheet or other data source and import the rail net-
work from digital mapping. You can then enter detailed
train services on the network. Each service can have any
number of different types of vehicle in it, and the speed and
power setting can vary on each section of track. You can en-
ter maximum speeds allowable on each section of track and
a generic speed for the service so you do not have to make
speed settings for each track segment unless you need to.
You can calculate the noise level averaged over any opera-
tional period.
Distributed calculations
Very large models can take a considerable amount of
calculation time. The total time can be reduced by
distributing the calculations between many computers,
using the remote database system.
An easy-to-use database administrator
tool lets you set up new databases, add
users and control the calculation queue,
and the efficient design of the database
lets you locate your file system anywhere
in the world.
Standalone noise models
If you do not need to share noise models
simultaneously with others, or to make
distributed calculations, NoiseMap can
work in a standalone manner without
requiring a dedicated server, even on a
simple laptop.
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Integrated road, rail and industrial Huge model sizes: Excellent user support:
noise maps • practically unlimited model sizes‡ • printed user manual (250 pages)
• from digital mapping • easy to create and store hundreds of • ‘How to’ user guides
• from shapefiles scenarios • on-screen context sensitive help
• from DXF files • script files for automated processing • on-line User Forum
• from bitmaps • results are stored with the model • telephone and email support
• by hand • database previewer for easy navigation • on-site training courses
• automatic generation of receiver points • simple for users to collaborate * • sample models
• simple distributed calculations * • compatibility with earlier versions
Display noise maps in many ways: • specialist knowledge not required
• noise contour maps Easy to check accuracy: • 25 yrs development by practitioners
• sum and difference contours • view-as-colour
• individual receiver points • cross-sections Powerful productivity tools
• façade noise levels • 3-d perspective views • improved object property windows
• 3-d perspective views • one line per source output • multiple activities at each working
• contribution of noise from each source • full calculation logs location
• vertical noise contours • clear error reporting • multiple types of vehicle in a train
• web-based display * service
• ISO and custom colours Flexible licence terms: • standalone or distributed computing
• full control over display process • permanent licences • easy navigation
• pay-as-you-go • import and export from spread-
Wide choice of calculation method: • hire sheets, GIS, CAD, etc
• Calculation of Road Traffic Noise (UK) • hire-purchase
• Calculation of Railway Noise (UK) • calculation-only
• BS5228 (with enhancements)
• LAeq (UK Noise Advisory Council) For further information contact:
• Lden (UK Department of Environment) NoiseMap Ltd Telephone: +44 20 3355 9734
• Lden (Rep. of Ireland, Methods A and B) 26 Hamilton Close Email: [email protected]
• UK Highways Agency DMRB 2008 EPSOM Web: www.noisemap.com
methods Surrey
• 1-hr, 18-hr and 24×1-hr traffic calcs
KT19 8RG
• any assessment period for Site and Rail
United Kingdom
