3D input data for noise studies
Apr 1, 2019

In the past two years we have been working on automatically creating 3D geo-data to use as input for noise studies. The Dutch government performs lots of noise studies every year for many different reasons. Noise nuisance has a large impact on public health, a lot more than people realise.

Since many years the calculation method for noise studies is prescribed by law. However the geo-data used for it is not. Current practice for engineering firms specialised in the field of noise studies is to both produce the required geo-data and to perform the noise studies. The raw data that is used and the workflows that are used to prepare the data differs per company or even per expert. In many cases the areas in which the study is performed overlaps with other governmental bodies. This not only means the work is sometimes done twice, it can also lead to inconsistent simulation results. For efficiency and reproducibility it therefore makes sense to use a uniform dataset for all noise related studies.

The ultimate goal is for this data to be freely available as open data. To achieve this we have been working together with RWS, RIVM, IPO and Kadaster to describe the specifications for such a uniform input dataset. Based on previous experiences of our group we work result and data driven which means we produce proof-of-concepts instead of just ideas on paper. Using the proof-of-concepts the decision making process is more productive since having the resulting data visualised eases communication.

All software developed for the creation of the 3D data for noise studies is open-source and available online. This cooperation lead to the creation of a test dataset we branded version 0.2. We want to share it with users and experts in the field to gather feedback. With this feedback we want to improve the research and hopefully work towards a version 1.0 in the future.

For more information on this project, the software and the version 0.2 data go to 3dgeluid.tudelft.nl