Mapping out the noise

Still far to go

Hu said the current sample map focusing on road traffic is only a start, and the institute will continue to map the entire city. More factors will be taken into consideration, including planes, railways and non-traffic noise.

“Currently, people can only estimate the noise situation based on the generalized colors, and that is not precise enough,” he said.

“The final map would provide every street with detailed infrmation. When residents view the map online, they will be able to enter their address and get exact noise data right away,” he said.

The engineers are also considering adding comparisons to help people estimate how loud the noise are. This would be similar to the noise map published in London, which compared residential noise to common sounds like vacuum cleaners, alarm clocks and electric mixers.

“For people unfamiliar wih decibel measurements, these comparisons can be very helpful in estimating noise,” Hu said.