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How Noisy Is Your Neighborhood? Now There's A Map For That (npr.org)

Posted by msmash on from the now-you-know dept.

An anonymous reader share an NPR article: There's no denying it: Los Angeles isn't exactly gentle on the ears. That's one lesson, at least, from a comprehensive noise map created by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. On the interactive U.S. map the agency released this week, which depicts data on noise produced primarily by airports and interstate highways, few spots glare with such deep and angry color as the City of Angels. Blame the area's handful of major airports and its legendary snarls of traffic -- ranked this year as the worst in the nation.

40 comments

  1. Doesn't work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does not load any noise data for me.

    1. Re:Doesn't work by turkeydance · · Score: 1

      well, of course. npr doesn't either.

    2. Re:Doesn't work by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "Does not load any noise data for me."

      Why do you always have to rub your deafness under our nose?

    3. Re:Doesn't work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought the same, but it's just slow to load the noise data. For me the map data with street names etc is almost instant, but the noise layer takes about a minute.

      In case it matters: I'm running Firefox on Linux, and I have both Adblock Plus and Ublock Origin enabled.

  2. Add THIS to the map by markdavis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Airports and interstates don't bother me much; and I am near both (2 miles from an International airport, 1 mile from a major interstate).

    What DOES bother me are:

    * Motorcycles and cars/trucks with illegal exhaust modifications
    * Dogs barking from neighbors
    * Boom-box bass cars, which I can hear a MILE AWAY sometimes
    * Unnecessary sirens

    None of that is on the map.

    1. Re:Add THIS to the map by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Illegal exhaust and boom boxes are a law enforcement issue. e.g. compare Santa Ana with Irvine.

      Dogs are subject to ultrasound, easy to manage.

      And the sirens are new to me. You are suggesting that running the siren when going to fire is unnecessary? Or that agencies without need run their sirens?

      Sounds like another law enforcement problem. Find a better city to live in.

    2. Re:Add THIS to the map by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      How do you suggest getting rid of the boom box bass cars? You hear them from a mile away, cannot see them, do not know exactly where they are because low frequencies are omnidirectional and by the time you call cops they'll either tell you there's nothing they can do about it without a license plate number and/or they can't stop people because of "freedom of expression" or some other shit.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    3. Re:Add THIS to the map by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Add military operations to the list, too.
      I used to live in Fallbrook, CA. Even miles away, artillery sounded like a thunderstorm. Try to sleep with the windows open at night and the sound of machine gun fire, helicopters, and artillery going off every hour until morning.

    4. Re:Add THIS to the map by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I gave up on car audio systems. It was like trying to nail a nail with your forehead, when dealing with local ordinances. It is true noise pollution, but the ostriches have their heads in the sand, regarding the plight. I just moved to a more rural area and never looked back. Taxes are cheaper, housing is cheaper, traffic is less congested. Atlanta,GA is a complete sh#t hole.

    5. Re:Add THIS to the map by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      There is definitely relativity to noise. Once I lived half a block from the interstate, just outside of downtown Chicago. Despite the constant hum, I almost never noticed it, other than the very occasional semi hitting the engine brakes hard, and even that was just kind of a pronounced note out of the background mishmash.

      Now I live outside a town of 20,000, in a tiny subdivision, and ten times a day I'm thinking to myself, "What are those crazy neighbors up to?" when they do anything at all, because it's generally so quiet *any* noise is disruptive.

      Then again, I've got young kids and a territorial dog now, whereas I was a blithely oblivious 20-something back then. Life circumstances may have something to do with my sensitivity to the noise as well.

      --
      The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
    6. Re:Add THIS to the map by markdavis · · Score: 2

      >"Illegal exhaust and boom boxes are a law enforcement issue. e.g. compare Santa Ana with Irvine."

      And here nothing is done about it, and it won't change.

      >"Dogs are subject to ultrasound, easy to manage."

      Not easy when not your dogs. Trust me, I tried.

      >"And the sirens are new to me. You are suggesting that running the siren when going to fire is unnecessary? Or that agencies without need run their sirens?"

      Yes. I estimate 75% of the time they are running with sirens unnecessarily; the lights are enough. In fact, often the sirens just scare people and are actually counter productive. They are a major source of unnecessary noise pollution. Many studies corroborate this.

      http://www.jems.com/articles/2...
      http://noiseabatementsociety.c...
      https://www.emergencydispatch....
      https://www.emergencydispatch....
      http://gradworks.umi.com/35/54...

    7. Re:Add THIS to the map by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then again, I've got young kids and a territorial dog now.

      Who's the noisy one now?

    8. Re:Add THIS to the map by No+Longer+an+AC · · Score: 1

      Fortunately I don't hear many sirens and none I would consider unnecessary but those other things bother me, mostly the neighbors. Occasionally military aircraft flies overhead but not too often but those things are really loud.

      Since I live in a townhome the worst is the walls were thinner than I expected when I moved in. I would love to find out there was some rating of sound insulation between units that could be looked up. For future reference of course, but I really want a freestanding home on its own lot next time I buy.

      I love hearing the train whistle in the distance at night though. I've lived close enough to train tracks to hear the train go by too. You get used to it just the same as you get used to having a clock that chimes or cuckoos every half hour if you have one. You simply don't even notice it most of the time.

      Or maybe not - train horns have become a political issue with people closer to the tracks (which have been here for probably at least a century) complaining about the horns.

      Most of the problems for me come through the walls or from dogs, loud motorcycles, powertools and cars.

    9. Re:Add THIS to the map by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the sirens are new to me. You are suggesting that running the siren when going to fire is unnecessary? Or that agencies without need run their sirens?

      When I lived in Colorado I noticed that the police and fire departments rolled code 3 in the early morning hours using only lights, no sirens. Now I live in a Los Angeles suburb where, even at 2 o'clock in the morning on a residential street they'll blare by with full sirens because FUCK YOUR SLEEP!

    10. Re:Add THIS to the map by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Taxes are cheaper, housing is cheaper, traffic is less congested.

      Much longer commute or lack of good paying jobs. Your forgot that part.

    11. Re:Add THIS to the map by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget leaf blowers. Oh, and my next door neighbour, who is severely autistic, has the tendency to sort of whistle not so much out-of-tune but without any kind of tune at all. It is surprising how much even low dB sounds can contribute to noise pollution.

    12. Re:Add THIS to the map by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tip: young kids are also sensitive to high frequencies.

    13. Re:Add THIS to the map by ayesnymous · · Score: 1

      Yep, my neighbor has 2 monster pickup trucks in his driveway that cause my windows to vibrate and 4 ATVs parked under his deck in the backyard. Don't think I'd see that on the map.

    14. Re:Add THIS to the map by chihowa · · Score: 1

      I'd add "all unnecessary police activity" to that list. Where I live, the police justify owning their helicopter(s?) by circling them low over different parts of town during the night. I've heard that they were looking for grow operations, which is such a good fucking reason for waking up tens of thousands of people every night, but pot is now legal here and they still do it, so I'm not sure what their current excuse is.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    15. Re:Add THIS to the map by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This... ^

    16. Re:Add THIS to the map by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope, didn't forget. I planned my move. Before, to drive 20 miles took a little over 1 hour during peak traffic. I had at a certain point leave before peak hours. Adding an extra 1.5 hours to the already 1+ hour trip. Just to keep the sanity in check. Making daily travel 5+ hours a day. Now, I just drive back roads for just an hour each way. Little to no traffic, just the occasional headache when reaching near the metro. Rural good, metro bad. Life is sooo much simpler now. Oh and the schools are better to.

    17. Re:Add THIS to the map by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      Heh. When I asked my neighbor to stop running his power saw at 10 at night, his excuse was that my girls occasionally scream a little while they're playing outside during daylight hours. Apparently those are equivalent.

      --
      The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
  3. I wish it were a google earth layer. Also, fail. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    This web viewer seems to be inferior even to a properly set up umn mapserver. The UI is actually decent, but the refresh speed is quite poor.

    On the other hand, the map is crap. They're not even taking into account my muni airport which hosts the medi chopper.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. missing military airports by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They are missing noise data from military airports.

    1. Re:missing military airports by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      /some/ military airports...

  5. The local Air Force base doesn't show up at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Go look at Anchorage Alaska and you can clearly see the effects of both the E/W and N/S runways for Anchorage International Airport on the west edge of town, but Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson which is NE of the main airport doesn't show up at all. Not quite sure what to think of this, because all the military jets and cargo planes certainly aren't running on silent mode.

  6. Re:The hood be noisy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Too poor for Glocks. Hi-points homie.

  7. Trains... by LeonPierre · · Score: 1

    ...they're about the worst.

    --
    "If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet"
  8. No Choo-Choo data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I live right by THE rail line for my metropolitan area and there are no noise contours for it.

  9. Different problem in the country by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    you go out to the country to get some quiet, but out there you have the gun nuts firing off their penis extenders all the time.

    1. Re:Different problem in the country by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gunfire is a lot less of a bother than the persistent noise in cities. Even if they were firing all the time (I work close to a firing range).

      In rural areas, people are more spread out, so there's a lot less noise pollution in general.

  10. Re:I wish it were a google earth layer. Also, fail by Aighearach · · Score: 1

    They're using arcgis, same as every other government mapping website. During peak hours it is sometimes a little slow, but mostly it works fine. It isn't a different speed than other things, though.

    When I was panning the map around, it all loaded very quickly; certainly more quickly than that other mapping company with all the letters.

  11. Alien landing zone? by fermion · · Score: 1

    What's up with the star pattern outside of Santa Fe, nm. Is that where the allien space craft land?

    --
    "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    1. Re:Alien landing zone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Airport-- Otherwise, a sleepy little town.

  12. missing major noise source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I took a quick look at my city, where we have several military airfields - none are marked with noise zones. The commercial airport is, but civilian jets are much quieter than tactical aircraft. Map indicates that houses under the military landing pattern are quiet-like-mouse.

    Of rather dubious value, this map is.

  13. Comprehensive, but by no means helpful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Other than major cities, the entirety of this is just lighting up big roadways. There are also really weird spikes throughout the map that don't seem to correlate to anything. My guess is planes. Overall pretty useless.

  14. rubbish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This map data is rubbish, my upstairs neighbor isn't even on it!

  15. Re:I wish it were a google earth layer. Also, fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm on a 1 gig internal line attached to the backbone at a National Lab. Loads fine for me.