The development of a practical framework for strategic noise mapping

There currently exist a number of commercial tools which may be used to develop strategic noise maps in an effort to satisfy the requirements of EU Directive 2002/49/EC. However, these tools may not be readily available to local authorities with limited resources. This paper investigates the possibility of developing a simplified alternative to using detailed commercial software for the creation of strategic noise maps. In-house noise prediction software was used to calculate a noise map of Dublin city centre and results were compared to those of commercial standard software. The in-house software tool was then used to assess the impact of various source-dependent action plans in a time-efficient and practical manner. Measurements were also carried out at various locations throughout the test area, which were then used to investigate the accuracy of predictions. Finally, a hybrid approach to developing a strategic noise map by integrating measurements taken on-site with predictions was developed. This approach was applied to the test area and yielded a refined noise map that presented noise levels which were more reflective of the measured levels recorded on-site. This demonstrated that the method could be used to determine noise levels that would be representative of the acoustic environment experienced on-site.