Country wide noise mapping with SoundPLAN by Ms. Khei Yinn Seow

In accordance with Directive 2002/49/EC, also known as the Environmental Noise Directive (END), European member states are required to create noise maps and action plans starting from 2007 every 5 years to reduce noise levels in urban areas, major transportation routes, and other noise-sensitive areas. The aim is to decrease noise exposure and its effects on human health and the environment.

Noise maps are used to show noise pollution in areas caused by airports, road traffic, railways, and industrial zones. While in Germany noise maps for airports, road traffic, and industrial noise are produced in a decentralized manner, and with a smaller spatial extent, the noise maps for railway noise are created nationwide by one single authority.

Processing millions of buildings, tens of thousands of kilometers of railway tracks, and gigabytes of terrain data is a significant challenge for data preparation and organization, as well as for the noise calculations themselves.

Using Germany and Italy as examples, this challenge can be done quickly and efficiently.

Both countries had a different approach to solve the task -but both countries have used data which were stored in a common GIS database, a noise calculation software like SoundPLAN to perform the calculations and an auxiliary tool serving as an interface between the GIS and the calculation software.

Therefore, it is proposed that such avenue can be implemented in Malaysia, starting from major cities, as an initiative to build the environmental noise database of the country. 

This will be beneficial to work towards solving the noise exposure and pollution issues in Malaysia.