Europe Begins Noise Mapping Effort

Makarand writes "The European continent has begun its fight against noise pollution by initiating a program to map noise levels for cities in the European Union with more than 250,000 people. As placing microphones on every building in London or Paris to measure noise was not practical, data on the amount of traffic carried by roads and the noise levels was fed into computers to generate a model of noise levels across the city. The model's accuracy was verified by taking readings with microphones at 100 points in the city and was found to be accurate on average to within 1 decibel. The noise maps will allow planning to insulate the public from noise by directing traffic away from residential areas and making funds available to sound-proof thin walled homes."

Comments

That's it, I'm moving.

[sirReal.83.]

The noise maps will allow planning to insulate the public from noise by directing traffic away from residential areas and making funds available to sound-proof thin walled homes.

I can't even get my landlord to shovel the 3 feet of snow in front of my apartment building.

Re:That's it, I'm moving.

[tomstdenis]

If you live in the US just slip and sue the mofo for like a million billion dollars. Then when you own the building you can... er... shovel the place lest you be sued!

Tom

Have to say it,

[flewp]

Lets hope they stay away from an empty (and therefor growling) CowboyNeal stomach, as that'll skew the results.

But what about the micro-noise climate

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this model take into account the guy two floors down in our apartment block who practices his drumming skills on Saturday and Sunday afternoons?

Re:Rich country?

[Anonymous Coward]

If I were a tax-paying British citizen I'd be outraged that "lots of excess government funds" were being used for this purpose. If I were a whining hippy always looking for a handout, I'd be outraged because my VW van wasn't eligible for sound-proofing.

Finally, an anti-pollution project for Bush

[orthogonal]

As placing microphones on every building in London or Paris to measure noise was not practical

The Bush administration today announced strong support for the reduction of noise pollution in America. Environmental organizations, keenly aware of the administration's poor record on pollution, expressed shock at this surprise move.

Making the announcement for the administration were Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and (retired) Admiral John Poindexter. Attorney General Ashcroft explained that the Justice Department would generously fund a pilot project to monitor noise pollution in major urban areas known to harbor dissidents and Democrats. Ashcroft proclaimed that "Everyone, and especially the less-loyal elements in America, have a right to be free of the noise pollution caused by anti-war and anti-World Bank protestors, non-Christians, and really, anyone else who questions authority."

That's not a cab !

[AtariAmarok]

"Anyway, here in Toronto you get your picture taken almost everytime you take a cab..."

Hate to break it to you, but that is not a cab. All this time, you've been getting into one of those instant photo booths. This explains why it smells better than you would expect, why you always get a picture, and why when you get out you are always at the same place where you started.

WHAT? HUH?

[winkydink]

SPEAK UP, WILL YOU???

Warning - Bad Joke.

[twitter]

As placing microphones on every building in London or Paris to measure noise was not practical, data on the amount of traffic carried by roads and the noise levels was fed into computers to generate a model of noise levels across the city.

Translation: Echelon did not co-operate so they had to get background noise from people's cell phones from their own telcos which incedently gave them great traffic data.

Re:Rich country?

[chrispl]

Maybe if you consider that spending money improving problems in residential areas (like doing stuff about traffic noise) that raises the value of the area and make it a more desirable place to live might have some beneficial, if not immediate effects for everyone.

At least that's what Sim City taught me.

Surprise results

[UnknowingFool]

Incidently, the study will find that the level of noise pollution increased significantly when Cmdr Taco visited London and ate beans and toast. This visit also coincides with the highest level of the greenhouse gas, methane, over the city.

better idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Why don't they just build roads and highways far away from cities to keep people from hearing them?

Big deal

[DirtyJ]

I began my nose-mapping effort years ago.

Oh wait... nevermind.

Re:Rich country?

[RevMike]

Sometimes I wish the U.S. government wasn't spending so much trying to build up the military and instead redirect those funds to building up the national infrastructure.

So the Canadian hordes could come pouring in through our infrastructure unopposed? Screw that!

au contraire!

[tommck]

back then soundproofing wasn't viewed as necessity(there weren't that much noise anyways).

What about the guy rolling through town with a cart shouting "Bring out your dead!" and the lady beating the cat against the wall! That's a lot of noise if you ask me!