NoiseMap Five User Reference Manual 2013

NoiseMap fi√e
User Reference Manual
The features described in this User Guide may not be available on all installations.
NoiseMap Ltd reserves the right to alter products and specifications without notification. The operation and appearance of features may differ
from the description in this User Guide. See on-line help or our website for information on any changes made since the publication of this manual.
We would be grateful if users would bring any discrepancies to our attention.
Edition 5.0.26
© 2003 - 2012 NoiseMap Ltd. All rights reserved.
February 2013
NoiseMap Ltd
26 Hamilton Close
EPSOM, KT19 8RG
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 3355 9734
E-mail: [email protected]
Contents: Noisemap Five – Principal Features
1:1
1. CONTENTS
1. Contents ..................................................................................................................................... 1:1
2. The basics of NoiseMap Five ...................................................................................................... 2:1
NoiseMap Five – Principal features .......................................................................................... 2:1
Upgrading from NoiseMap Enterprise Edition .................................................................... 2:2
Using this manual and obtaining other help ............................................................................. 2:2
Introduction to NoiseMap ........................................................................................................ 2:3
Automated modelling ........................................................................................................ 2:3
Interface with GIS and CAD ............................................................................................... 2:3
Models of any size and complexity ................................................................................... 2:3
Collaborative working ....................................................................................................... 2:3
Scripting ............................................................................................................................ 2:4
Presentation-ready mapping ............................................................................................... 2:4
Presentation over the Web ................................................................................................. 2:4
Database technology ......................................................................................................... 2:4
Maintains compatibility ..................................................................................................... 2:5
Accuracy ........................................................................................................................... 2:5
Flexible licences ................................................................................................................ 2:5
Changing from NoiseMap Enterprise to NoiseMap five............................................................. 2:6
Differences from Enterprise version.................................................................................... 2:6
Databases defined ............................................................................................................. 2:6
Database simplicity............................................................................................................ 2:6
Small schemes also benefit ................................................................................................ 2:7
Automatic tracking of scheme changes .............................................................................. 2:7
Computer hardware ........................................................................................................... 2:7
Internet connections are not essential ................................................................................ 2:8
Internet security ................................................................................................................. 2:8
SSH ................................................................................................................................... 2:9
Installation ............................................................................................................................... 2:9
Dongles ............................................................................................................................. 2:9
Licence scope .................................................................................................................... 2:9
The database .......................................................................................................................... 2:10
Remote database ............................................................................................................. 2:10
Stand-alone database ....................................................................................................... 2:10
Map Tiles......................................................................................................................... 2:10
Database previewer ......................................................................................................... 2:11
Database Server machine ................................................................................................. 2:11
Database administration .................................................................................................. 2:12
3. NoiseMap models....................................................................................................................... 3:1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 3:1
Height information ............................................................................................................ 3:3
Structure of a RoadNoise model ............................................................................................... 3:3
Structure of a SiteNoise Model ................................................................................................. 3:4
Sequence of modelling ...................................................................................................... 3:5
Positioning Activities at Working Locations........................................................................ 3:6
Activities Explained ........................................................................................................... 3:6
Scenarios ........................................................................................................................... 3:7
Assessment period.................................................................................................................... 3:8
Structure of a Railnoise model .................................................................................................. 3:8
Creating a RailNoise Model ............................................................................................... 3:9
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Sequence of modelling ............................................................................................................ 3:9
Positioning Services onto Tracks ...................................................................................... 3:10
Train Services Explained ........................................................................................................ 3:10
Scenarios......................................................................................................................... 3:11
Assessment period ................................................................................................................. 3:12
4. Creating Noise Models ............................................................................................................... 4:1
Starting the software................................................................................................................. 4:1
New schemes – Scenarios and databases ................................................................................. 4:1
Creating a new database .......................................................................................................... 4:1
Creating and Editing noise models ........................................................................................... 4:2
Connecting to database ............................................................................................................ 4:2
Stand-alone database ......................................................................................................... 4:2
Remote database ............................................................................................................... 4:2
Options for loading noise modelling data ................................................................................ 4:3
Recent Databases ..................................................................................................................... 4:3
Database previewer ................................................................................................................. 4:4
Starting the Database Previewer ........................................................................................ 4:5
Selecting tiles in the Previewer .......................................................................................... 4:7
Downloading from database.............................................................................................. 4:7
Rules of inheritance ................................................................................................................. 4:8
Loading tiles from database ...................................................................................................... 4:8
Select Scenario .................................................................................................................. 4:9
Import existing NoiseMap Enterprise Models ........................................................................... 4:9
Import existing archive........................................................................................................... 4:10
Introduction to archives ................................................................................................... 4:10
Commence archive Import .............................................................................................. 4:11
Merging archives and masterfiles into an existing model ........................................................ 4:11
Consistency checks ......................................................................................................... 4:11
Merging Categories and Combinations ............................................................................ 4:12
Traffic flow ID numbers................................................................................................... 4:13
Creating and updating NoiseMap Models .............................................................................. 4:13
DXF digital drawing Files ....................................................................................................... 4:14
Introduction .................................................................................................................... 4:14
Height Information .......................................................................................................... 4:15
Automatic Height Generation .......................................................................................... 4:16
Loading a DXF File ................................................................................................................ 4:16
Controlling the detail in the DXF View................................................................................... 4:18
Model Display................................................................................................................. 4:19
Convert DXF Selection ........................................................................................................... 4:20
Shapefiles .............................................................................................................................. 4:22
Introduction to Shapefiles ................................................................................................ 4:22
Loading a Shapefile ......................................................................................................... 4:23
Shapefile Profile (column mappings) ............................................................................... 4:23
Automated model creation..................................................................................................... 4:26
Roads .............................................................................................................................. 4:27
Tracks, Workings, Barriers, Receivers .............................................................................. 4:28
Outline ........................................................................................................................... 4:28
Hard/Soft Ground outlines............................................................................................... 4:29
Top/Bottom of slope ........................................................................................................ 4:29
Conversion Tolerance ..................................................................................................... 4:29
Automatically generate height ......................................................................................... 4:30
Edit convert layer defaults ...................................................................................................... 4:30
Segment Tools ....................................................................................................................... 4:31
Set local height................................................................................................................ 4:31
Set retained cut ............................................................................................................... 4:31
Reverse segment chain (Shortcut ctrl-x)............................................................................ 4:32
Delete contours from segments ....................................................................................... 4:32
Hard ground outlines ............................................................................................................. 4:32
Adding Building outlines ....................................................................................................... 4:32
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Contents: Noisemap Five – Principal Features
Contents: Noisemap Five – Principal Features
1:3
Select method of adding building outlines ....................................................................... 4:33
Marking out and annotating Noise Models ............................................................................. 4:34
Adding areas and annotation manually ............................................................................ 4:35
Displaying the Area or Annotation labels ......................................................................... 4:35
Calculation Parameters ........................................................................................................... 4:36
General Calculation Parameters ....................................................................................... 4:36
CRTN Road Calculations ................................................................................................. 4:37
BS5228 SiteNoise Calculations ........................................................................................ 4:37
Storing the Calculation Parameters................................................................................... 4:38
Categories and combinations ................................................................................................. 4:38
Edit barrier adjustments .......................................................................................................... 4:40
Program Options .................................................................................................................... 4:40
General options ............................................................................................................... 4:41
Model Editing .................................................................................................................. 4:42
Model Loading ................................................................................................................ 4:42
Popups and Messages ...................................................................................................... 4:43
Working with Bitmaps ............................................................................................................ 4:43
Scanning bitmaps ............................................................................................................ 4:44
Loading a bitmap ............................................................................................................. 4:44
World Files ...................................................................................................................... 4:44
Bitmap calibration ........................................................................................................... 4:44
Saving calibrated bitmaps ................................................................................................ 4:45
Locating the bitmap ......................................................................................................... 4:45
Moving around the bitmap .............................................................................................. 4:45
Turning the Bitmap on and off ......................................................................................... 4:45
5. Navigation and Editing................................................................................................................ 5:1
Basic operation ........................................................................................................................ 5:1
The Graphical Window ..................................................................................................... 5:1
Navigation ............................................................................................................................... 5:2
With mouse wheel ............................................................................................................ 5:3
With cursor keys ................................................................................................................ 5:3
With toolbar buttons .......................................................................................................... 5:3
Find ......................................................................................................................................... 5:4
Find next (F3) .................................................................................................................... 5:5
Postcodes ................................................................................................................................. 5:5
Selecting an Object .................................................................................................................. 5:5
Point and click................................................................................................................... 5:5
Enclosure method .............................................................................................................. 5:6
Complete chain selection .................................................................................................. 5:6
Find ................................................................................................................................... 5:6
Manager screens ................................................................................................................ 5:6
Object properties window ........................................................................................................ 5:7
Moving Objects ....................................................................................................................... 5:7
Split Object .............................................................................................................................. 5:7
Break chain .............................................................................................................................. 5:8
Copying Objects ...................................................................................................................... 5:8
Deleting objects ....................................................................................................................... 5:8
Delete Selection ................................................................................................................ 5:8
Undo and Redo ........................................................................................................................ 5:9
Undo ................................................................................................................................. 5:9
Redo .................................................................................................................................. 5:9
Navigating along line objects ................................................................................................... 5:9
Road segments................................................................................................................... 5:9
Edit object co-ordinates .......................................................................................................... 5:10
Measuring tool ....................................................................................................................... 5:10
Contours ................................................................................................................................ 5:11
Ground Height and Ground Type .................................................................................... 5:11
Ground Height Contours ................................................................................................. 5:11
Ground type outlines ....................................................................................................... 5:13
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Spot Height Chain ................................................................................................................. 5:15
Barriers .................................................................................................................................. 5:16
Height adjustment ........................................................................................................... 5:19
Receivers ............................................................................................................................... 5:20
Saving changes ...................................................................................................................... 5:20
Conflict checking ............................................................................................................ 5:20
Optimise Database ................................................................................................................ 5:21
6. Road Noise Modelling ................................................................................................................ 6:1
Starting the software................................................................................................................. 6:1
Traffic Flow Data ..................................................................................................................... 6:1
Changing traffic flow data.................................................................................................. 6:2
Manual entry using the Traffic Flow Dialogue Box............................................................. 6:3
Importing traffic flows from a spreadsheet ......................................................................... 6:6
Segments ................................................................................................................................. 6:7
Road Segment Properties ................................................................................................... 6:8
Object Position ................................................................................................................. 6:8
Road Parameters ............................................................................................................... 6:9
Carriageway Properties .................................................................................................... 6:11
Retained cut setting ......................................................................................................... 6:14
Next segment .................................................................................................................. 6:15
7. Site Noise Modelling .................................................................................................................. 7:1
Starting the software................................................................................................................. 7:1
Adding plant data .................................................................................................................... 7:1
Importing and exporting plant data .......................................................................................... 7:2
Adding activities ...................................................................................................................... 7:3
Adding working locations ........................................................................................................ 7:4
Putting Activities Into Working Locations ................................................................................. 7:5
Multiple working locations ................................................................................................ 7:6
Importing and exporting Activities ........................................................................................... 7:7
Importing Activities into an existing noise model ............................................................... 7:8
Presentation of Workings and activities on graphical screen ..................................................... 7:9
Assigning categories............................................................................................................... 7:11
8. Rail Noise modelling .................................................................................................................. 8:1
Starting the software................................................................................................................. 8:1
Adding railway Train vehicle data ............................................................................................ 8:1
Importing train vehicles ..................................................................................................... 8:2
Adding train services................................................................................................................ 8:2
Adding segments of track ......................................................................................................... 8:4
Putting Train services Into Segments of track ..................................................................... 8:6
Presentation of Railway Tracks on graphical screen .................................................................. 8:7
Assigning categories................................................................................................................. 8:7
RailNoise Calculations ............................................................................................................. 8:8
9. Scenarios .................................................................................................................................... 9:1
Scenarios Explained ................................................................................................................. 9:1
Scenario manager .................................................................................................................... 9:2
Rules of inheritance ................................................................................................................. 9:3
Geographical objects......................................................................................................... 9:4
Information not specific to particular tiles or scenarios ............................................................. 9:4
Calculation parameters ...................................................................................................... 9:5
Barrier height adjustments ................................................................................................. 9:5
RailNoise Objects ............................................................................................................. 9:5
SiteNoise Objects .............................................................................................................. 9:6
RoadNoise Objects ........................................................................................................... 9:7
10. Noise Contouring ................................................................................................................... 10:1
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Contents: Noisemap Five – Principal Features
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Noise contouring ................................................................................................................... 10:1
Introduction to NoiseMap features ................................................................................... 10:1
Calculate database noise contours .......................................................................................... 10:1
Choice of calculation method ................................................................................................ 10:4
Compare Database Contours .................................................................................................. 10:6
Load database noise contours ................................................................................................. 10:7
Valid and Invalid Contours .............................................................................................. 10:8
Contour display parameters .................................................................................................... 10:9
Show contour .................................................................................................................. 10:9
Contour display ............................................................................................................. 10:12
Contour labels ............................................................................................................... 10:12
Drawing method............................................................................................................ 10:12
Contour scale ................................................................................................................ 10:12
Contour intervals ........................................................................................................... 10:13
Choosing particular contour values ................................................................................ 10:13
Contour interval boundaries .......................................................................................... 10:14
Changing the way that noise contours are displayed ............................................................. 10:15
Close Contour ...................................................................................................................... 10:15
Display contour Area Breakdown ......................................................................................... 10:15
Jagged Contours ................................................................................................................... 10:15
Contour Calculation process ................................................................................................ 10:16
Combined source modelling ................................................................................................ 10:17
Stopping NoiseMap .............................................................................................................. 10:17
Clear NoiseMap............................................................................................................. 10:17
Exit ................................................................................................................................ 10:17
Quit............................................................................................................................... 10:17
Abort ............................................................................................................................. 10:17
Abort at end .................................................................................................................. 10:17
11. Calculation at individual receivers .......................................................................................... 11:1
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 11:1
Entering individual receiver points manually .......................................................................... 11:2
Receiver properties screen in detail.................................................................................. 11:3
Generation of a grid of receivers ............................................................................................ 11:5
Automatic generation of receiver points around building facades ........................................... 11:8
Calculating noise levels at receiver points ............................................................................ 11:11
Local Calculation ........................................................................................................... 11:11
Calculate database receivers ................................................................................................. 11:14
Load Receiver Results........................................................................................................... 11:15
Display receiver results ........................................................................................................ 11:15
Export Receiver Results ........................................................................................................ 11:15
Show source contribution at receiver ................................................................................... 11:15
12. Saving and exporting results ................................................................................................... 12:1
Export ShapeFiles ................................................................................................................... 12:1
Export Picture......................................................................................................................... 12:2
Copy view to Clipboard (Crtl+C)..................................................................................... 12:2
Export DXF............................................................................................................................. 12:2
Export Contour Data .............................................................................................................. 12:3
Comma-delimited ascii output ......................................................................................... 12:3
ESRI Grid Format ............................................................................................................. 12:4
Export Archive ....................................................................................................................... 12:5
Exporting a scenario ............................................................................................................... 12:5
Exporting Traffic Flows ........................................................................................................... 12:6
Export Train Vehicles ............................................................................................................. 12:6
Export Plant............................................................................................................................ 12:7
Saving the Output window ..................................................................................................... 12:7
Results Report (ROP) File ....................................................................................................... 12:7
Exporting to Excel .................................................................................................................. 12:7
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13. Features for checking models ................................................................................................. 13:1
View-As-Colour ..................................................................................................................... 13:1
Parameter to colour ......................................................................................................... 13:1
Parameter options ........................................................................................................... 13:2
Colour scale limits........................................................................................................... 13:2
Update view.................................................................................................................... 13:2
Labelling the model ............................................................................................................... 13:3
Display Options Menu .................................................................................................... 13:3
Types View ..................................................................................................................... 13:3
Labels View..................................................................................................................... 13:4
General ........................................................................................................................... 13:5
Cross-sections and long-sections ............................................................................................ 13:5
Vertical noise contours .................................................................................................... 13:7
3-D Viewing .......................................................................................................................... 13:7
Generating 3-D files ........................................................................................................ 13:8
The 3-D viewer ...................................................................................................................... 13:9
Hints on viewing ........................................................................................................... 13:11
Trouble-shooting 3-d viewer .......................................................................................... 13:12
Software filling of noise contours ................................................................................... 13:12
Checking for Duplicate Objects ........................................................................................... 13:12
14. Distributed Calculations ......................................................................................................... 14:1
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 14:1
Setting up a computer to listen to the Calculation Queue ....................................................... 14:1
Adding tasks to the Calculation queue ................................................................................... 14:2
Queued information .............................................................................................................. 14:3
Speed of computation ............................................................................................................ 14:3
Loss of internet connection .................................................................................................... 14:4
Calculation-only licence ........................................................................................................ 14:4
Read-only database permissions ............................................................................................. 14:4
15. Graphical output and Printing ................................................................................................ 15:1
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 15:1
Printing or Plotting a Model ................................................................................................... 15:1
Copy view to clipboard.......................................................................................................... 15:3
16. The results output window ..................................................................................................... 16:1
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 16:1
Positioning the results output window ................................................................................... 16:2
Script command pane ............................................................................................................ 16:2
Saving the results output window........................................................................................... 16:2
Find function ......................................................................................................................... 16:3
View Functions ...................................................................................................................... 16:3
Show all output ............................................................................................................... 16:3
Show all error messages .................................................................................................. 16:3
Display model parameters ............................................................................................... 16:3
Calculate Functions ............................................................................................................... 16:4
Receiver calculations ....................................................................................................... 16:4
Display contour area breakdown ..................................................................................... 16:4
Output ................................................................................................................................... 16:4
Selecting output detail ............................................................................................................ 16:4
Full Output ...................................................................................................................... 16:4
One line per segment Output .......................................................................................... 16:2
Summary printout ........................................................................................................... 16:3
Output interpretation .............................................................................................................. 16:3
Height adjustment ........................................................................................................... 16:3
Receiver details ............................................................................................................... 16:4
Segment Number ............................................................................................................ 16:4
Contour Analysis ............................................................................................................. 16:4
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Contents: Noisemap Five – Principal Features
Contents: Noisemap Five – Principal Features
1:7
Possible Barriers .............................................................................................................. 16:4
Effective Barriers .............................................................................................................. 16:4
RoadNoise output .................................................................................................................. 16:5
Segment Summary Line ................................................................................................... 16:5
SiteNoise output..................................................................................................................... 16:7
Activity Summary Line ..................................................................................................... 16:8
RailNoise Output ................................................................................................................. 16:10
Segment Summary Line ................................................................................................. 16:10
Summary Of Model .............................................................................................................. 16:12
17. NoiseMap Script Interface ....................................................................................................... 17:1
Script commands.................................................................................................................... 17:1
Script Command Pane ............................................................................................................ 17:1
Script Files ............................................................................................................................. 17:2
Creating a Script file ............................................................................................................... 17:3
Script Variables ...................................................................................................................... 17:4
List of commands............................................................................................................. 17:5
18. Database setup and Administration ......................................................................................... 18:1
Stand-alone databases ............................................................................................................ 18:1
Remote databases................................................................................................................... 18:1
Setting up a Connection to a remote database server .............................................................. 18:1
Installing a server and database .............................................................................................. 18:2
MySQL ............................................................................................................................ 18:2
Database Administration ........................................................................................................ 18:2
The Database Administrator ............................................................................................. 18:2
User permissions ............................................................................................................. 18:3
The calculation queue ..................................................................................................... 18:3
Copying a database ................................................................................................................ 18:3
Database Versions .................................................................................................................. 18:4
Capacity of NoiseMap ............................................................................................................ 18:4
19. Updates and Maintenance ...................................................................................................... 19:1
Continuous development ....................................................................................................... 19:1
Version check .................................................................................................................. 19:1
Automatic updates ........................................................................................................... 19:1
Maintenance contracts ..................................................................................................... 19:1
Licence updates ............................................................................................................... 19:2
Update Pay-As-You-Go........................................................................................................... 19:2
Options ........................................................................................................................... 19:3
Get new code ........................................................................................................................ 19:3
Checking and refreshing available user time ........................................................................... 19:4
Using time ....................................................................................................................... 19:4
Checking and refreshing available user time .................................................................... 19:5
Cost of User Time .................................................................................................................. 19:5
20. Default shapefile format .......................................................................................................... 20:1
Shapefile usage in NoiseMap ................................................................................................. 20:1
Preset shapefile format ........................................................................................................... 20:1
21. Menu Structure ....................................................................................................................... 21:1
Main graphical screen menu .................................................................................................. 21:1
All Output (Log/results) screen menu ...................................................................................... 21:3
Keyboard shortcut summary ................................................................................................... 21:4
22. Index ...................................................................................................................................... 22:1
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TABLE OF FIGURES
Sequence of creating a SiteNoise model ......................................................................................................... 3:5
Sequence of creating a Railnoise model ........................................................................................................ 3:10
NoiseMap Remote Server Login ..................................................................................................................... 4:3
Database Previewer Dialogue ........................................................................................................................ 4:5
Importing categories and combinations ........................................................................................................ 4:12
OS Landline – Layer numbers (Selected) ....................................................................................................... 4:18
DXF Viewing Options .................................................................................................................................. 4:18
DXF Curve Fitting Dialogue ......................................................................................................................... 4:21
Shapefile column mappings (profile) ............................................................................................................. 4:24
An example of Annotation: .......................................................................................................................... 4:34
Calculation parameters................................................................................................................................. 4:36
Category parameters .................................................................................................................................... 4:39
Program options ........................................................................................................................................... 4:41
Find dialogue box .......................................................................................................................................... 5:5
Ground height contours ............................................................................................................................... 5:13
Ground Type Outlines ................................................................................................................................. 5:14
Single barrier properties screen .................................................................................................................... 5:18
Traffic Flows dialogue box (part) .................................................................................................................... 6:4
Traffic flow import format .............................................................................................................................. 6:6
Road segment properties ................................................................................................................................ 6:7
Heights .......................................................................................................................................................... 6:9
Carriageway Width ...................................................................................................................................... 6:12
Carriageway Separation................................................................................................................................ 6:13
Retained cut parameters ............................................................................................................................... 6:14
Plant manager ................................................................................................................................................ 7:2
Activity manager ............................................................................................................................................ 7:3
Add objects ................................................................................................................................................... 7:4
Working location properties ........................................................................................................................... 7:6
Activity import format .................................................................................................................................... 7:7
Presentation of fixed workings on-screen ........................................................................................................ 7:9
Presentation of route workings on-screen ...................................................................................................... 7:10
Presentation of fixed and route workings with activities assigned .................................................................. 7:10
Category parameters .................................................................................................................................... 7:11
Train vehicle manager .................................................................................................................................... 8:2
Train service manager .................................................................................................................................... 8:3
Add track segments ........................................................................................................................................ 8:4
Track segment properties ............................................................................................................................... 8:5
Presentation of railway tracks on graphical screen .......................................................................................... 8:7
Category parameters in RailNoise ................................................................................................................... 8:8
Contour calculation options ......................................................................................................................... 10:2
Contour calculation resolution ..................................................................................................................... 10:3
Contour display parameters ........................................................................................................................ 10:10
Measuring limits of field of view .................................................................................................................. 11:2
Receiver properties screen ........................................................................................................................... 11:3
Receiver grid properties screen..................................................................................................................... 11:6
Example of receiver grid ............................................................................................................................... 11:7
Receiver grid with noise levels displayed in colour ....................................................................................... 11:7
Vertical cross-section of Receiver grid with noise levels displayed in colour .................................................. 11:8
Generate façade receivers ............................................................................................................................ 11:9
Receivers generated by above settings ........................................................................................................ 11:10
Local calculation of receiver noise levels .................................................................................................... 11:11
Train vehicle export format .......................................................................................................................... 12:6
Plant export format ...................................................................................................................................... 12:7
Cross-section view ....................................................................................................................................... 13:6
Receiver noise level colours ......................................................................................................................... 13:9
Duplicate Checking ................................................................................................................................... 13:13
Full Output................................................................................................................................................... 16:2
One line per segment output ........................................................................................................................ 16:3
Summary Printout ......................................................................................................................................... 16:3
Activity Summary Line ................................................................................................................................. 16:8
Summary of script commands ...................................................................................................................... 17:7
Add new server connection .......................................................................................................................... 18:1
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Contents: Noisemap Five – Principal Features
The Basics Of Noisemap Five: Noisemap Five – Principal Features
2. THE BASICS OF NOISEMAP FIVE
NOISEMAP FIVE – PRINCIPAL FEATURES
NoiseMap five is fully-professional software for the assessment of
environmental noise from road, railway and all type of open-site
and industrial projects. It has been developed by acoustics, civil,
transportation and software engineering professionals to provide
all the functionality needed in noise mapping and assessment, in
the evaluation and evolution of projects, including the design of
mitigation, the evaluation of alternatives and in the provision of
impact assessments. It incorporates the experience gained in
over 25 years’ use on thousands of projects, ranging from the
very smallest to the very largest: models can be of practically
unlimited size.
The features, user interface and tools are designed to make it
easy to get results without a specialist understanding of noise
calculation procedures, and NoiseMap five is backwardscompatible so that models developed in earlier versions can take
advantage of the latest features.
NoiseMap five provides all the functionality of NoiseMap Server
Edition along with many extra features, including the option to
use it in stand-alone mode which does not require a specialist
database server. Stand-alone mode provides all the modelling
features of the database server mode, and can handle large
databases for users who do not need distributed calculations or
multiple concurrent users. Huge models such as those containing
hundreds of kilometres of roads or hundreds of scenarios, and
those with intensive calculation needs should continue to use the
robust and powerful dedicated database server system.
NoiseMap five integrates RoadNoise, SiteNoise and RailNoise
calculations into a single module. The use of ‘persistent’
properties windows for most types of object lets users with wide
screen displays position these at the side of the main graphical
window or even on a second display screen. Some property
windows are linked: for example, when you select a road
segment, the traffic flow window (if open) will automatically
show the full properties of the relevant traffic flow.
NoiseMap five also has a more advanced scripting interface that
allows many repetitive modelling processes to be automated.
When combined with the ability to import and export many
model components from spreadsheets, the integration of
NoiseMap with external data sources is further improved.
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UPGRADING FROM
NOISEMAP ENTERPRISE
EDITION
Existing NoiseMap Enterprise RoadNoise, RailNoise and
SiteNoise models can be imported into NoiseMap five, where
they can be combined into a single model, or kept as different
scenarios.
Major benefits for NoiseMap Enterprise users include far superior
import of digital models from shapefiles, DXF files and
spreadsheets. Full modelling of buildings and generation of
receiver points around buildings are now included; and
calculation results, both for individual receivers and noise
contours, are stored in the database.
The NoiseMap Enterprise concept of separate models files to
represent different situations is replaced in NoiseMap five by the
concept of Scenarios, which represent variations on a base
theme. For example, a base scenario could be an existing road
network and a second scenario could represent the area with a
bypass. Further scenarios could then represent the bypass with a
noise barrier, and yet further scenarios could represent different
years with different traffic flows. Each scenario can contain any
number of road, rail and site noise sources. Noise levels can be
calculated for each type of source, and scenarios can be
compared to see the difference in noise levels. These tasks are
all handled automatically within the software, thereby saving
many hours of work.
USING THIS MANUAL AND OBTAINING OTHER HELP
This manual is a comprehensive User Reference Guide to
NoiseMap five and includes guidance on modelling Road, Rail
and Site Noise. Separate ‘How to’ guides are available to
provide step-by-step guidance on particular tasks, including:

Setting up a RoadNoise model

Using DXF and Shapefiles

How to create vertical noise contours

Using category combinations
Where the term NoiseMap is used alone, this refers to the latest
version, NoiseMap five.
Technical reference manuals describe the technical operation of
some NoiseMap features, including details of calculation
procedures, and are available by applying to NoiseMap Ltd.
Context-sensitive help
NoiseMap five contains new context-sensitive help, based on the
contents of this manual. Press the F1 key at any time the
software is running to obtain context-sensitive help.
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The Basics Of Noisemap Five: Using This Manual And Obtaining Other Help
The Basics Of Noisemap Five: Introduction To Noisemap
This manual
This manual is primarily a reference manual rather than a step-by
step guide, although the information has been presented in the
order that a user would be likely to require it when starting a
scheme from scratch.
This manual covers the various functions of NoiseMap in detail,
with Chapter 21 showing the menu structure and the primary
reference for each menu item. An Index provides a quick way of
finding particular descriptions.
We welcome your comments on the content and presentation of
this manual.
INTRODUCTION TO NOISEMAP
AUTOMATED MODELLING
NoiseMap automates much of the work involved in creating the
noise models from which noise calculations and noise maps are
made. It can convert digital maps directly into noise models with
little or no user intervention. This includes the conversion of
whole topographical models, building layers, road layers etc.,
into a noise model. This automation helps to reduce the
technical complexity of creating noise maps.
It also integrates the modelling of road, rail and site noise sources
into a single module.
INTERFACE WITH GIS AND
CAD
Digital maps, noise models and noise maps can be transferred
between NoiseMap and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
using standard digital and graphics file formats such as
ShapeFiles, DXF and Bitmap. Noise maps can also be transferred
in ESRI Grid format and via text files of x, y, h and dB values.
MODELS OF
ANY SIZE AND COMPLEXITY
NoiseMap uses advanced database technology to create noise
models and noise maps of any size, from the very simplest to the
very largest. It is much easier to track real-world changes to road
and rail networks and industrial sites. New proposals and
alternatives can be tested without the risk of affecting the baseline model.
COLLABORATIVE WORKING
As noise models get larger, more people will be involved in
creating and using them. This will often require collaborative
working by teams of people who may be at different locations.
NoiseMap uses a powerful database storage technology to meet
these needs.
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SCRIPTING
The scripting interface allows automation of repetitive tasks,
including the importing and conversion of shapefiles, traffic flow
files and calculation of noise contours.
PRESENTATION-READY
MAPPING
NoiseMap contains many mapping features, including the
creation of building outlines and other ‘feature boundaries’ to
delineate such things as modelled area, water features, city
boundaries and the like. Presentation-ready maps can be
produced from NoiseMap without the need for a separate
graphics package. Noise contours can be exported in a variety of
tabular and picture formats for use in reports, GIS systems or
other software.
PRESENTATION OVER THE
WEB
NoiseMap can create an interactive Web-page version of your
model for easy presentation of results. Areas can be selected by
tile reference, OS co-ordinates or Post Codes (if the relevant
Address-Point data is supplied).
DATABASE TECHNOLOGY
NoiseMap offers a choice of two database technologies:

a stand-alone or flat-file database suitable for moderate
schemes with a limited number of users who may have a
standalone PC or network access to an ordinary file server,
and

a powerful remote database system for huge schemes and
organisations that work collaboratively and have users
needing remote access.
Stand-alone databases
The stand-alone or flat-file database can be kept on your local
computer or on a network drive. It uses a database driver built
into the NoiseMap system. It has the advantage that it does not
require a dedicated database server and does not require any
special administration. However, it does not control user access,
or allow multiple concurrent users or distributed processing via a
calculation queue. Nevertheless, it is an attractive option for
moderate schemes with a limited number of users.
Remote server
The Remote Server option stores the model in an ‘industrial
strength’ database which will usually be remote from the user's
workstation. The database ‘engine’ may be located on a
network, on an intranet or on the Internet. A comprehensive set
of database administration tools allows an ordinary NoiseMap
user to set up new databases and users. This database
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The Basics Of Noisemap Five: Introduction To Noisemap
The Basics Of Noisemap Five: Introduction To Noisemap
administrator controls access to the database by granting users
permission to log on to particular databases.
Users can be granted different levels of access to model
databases, so that some may be able to create noise models,
whilst others may only be able to view existing noise maps.
‘Client’ computers (ie the ordinary user’s computers) can share
the processing load when huge models are being calculated.
This is known as ‘distributed processing’, which can greatly
enhance the available computing power without requiring
expensive multi-processor or ultra-fast machines.
MAINTAINS COMPATIBILITY
NoiseMap is compatible with all earlier editions of our Noise
software: RoadNoise, RailNoise and SiteNoise, DOS, 98, 2000
Enterprise and Server editions. You can upload archives from
these earlier versions into NoiseMap and you can save
NoiseMap models back into some earlier archive formats,
although obviously you may lose certain advanced information
when you do so.
ACCURACY
NoiseMap uses the native algorithms as set out in the standards
with which it complies. Their operation been verified by
hundreds of users and NoiseMap Ltd investigates any issues that
are brought to our attention. We run test problems whenever the
software is updated to check that consistent results are obtained.
It is also important that users can create error-free models easily.
NoiseMap has a number of tools to assist in this, including

View-as-colour (thematic viewing)

Flexible labelling of the model

Cross-sections and long-sections (with noise levels)

3-d viewing (with noise levels and contours)

Viewing source contributions

Checking for duplicated objects

Calculation log files
These are described in Chapter 13 of this manual.
FLEXIBLE LICENCES
A range of licences are available for NoiseMap. These include
‘Permanent’ licences, Hire, Pay-As-You-Go and Calculation only.
Calculation-only licences allow computers to participate in
calculations but not to perform any other functions. This is an
economical way of obtaining extra computing power when
calculating large areas. For example, general-purpose computers
could be used to perform calculations overnight.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
A licence may allow you to use all three NoiseMap modules
(Road, Rail and Site) or it may be limited to one or two modules.
Even if your licence is limited to one or two modules, then you
can still load a full model. For example, if you have a
RoadNoise-only licence, you will be able to load rail tracks and
site routes but you will not be able to make any changes to them.
This ensures that you always see the full model, even though you
cannot change certain parts of it.
You should note that menu options that are not permitted by
your licence will be greyed-out and you will not be able to select
them. Some menu options would also be greyed-out if you are
using an older-format database that cannot support these
features. You can check which features your licence permits by
selecting Help, About from the menu. Licences can be easily
upgraded by downloading a code from NoiseMap’s
administration database. If you have maintenance, you will also
be able to check for and download upgrades from the
administration database.
CHANGING FROM NOISEMAP ENTERPRISE TO NOISEMAP FIVE
DIFFERENCES FROM
ENTERPRISE VERSION
A NoiseMap five model looks very similar to a NoiseMap
Enterprise model: the same objects are there – traffic flows,
segments, noise barriers, receptor points and so on. The same
editing tools for changing model objects are there as well, so all
this will be familiar to the Enterprise user. However, the model
is stored in quite a different way, using a database, and the new
concepts will require some familiarisation. The reason for using
a database is to allow for the very large models that can be
created using the new automation tools.
DATABASES DEFINED
A database is a special form of computer file which is organised
so that information can be found quickly. The database contains
indexes of individual items for which you are likely to search,
speeding up the process.
The database system used by NoiseMap is equipped with a
powerful search ‘engine’ that allows sophisticated searches to be
made. Then, only the required results need be sent to the user.
This reduces the amount of network traffic by ensuring that
irrelevant information is not sent over the network.
DATABASE SIMPLICITY
The database helps you to manage large or complex models,
especially where you need to test many different variations or
stages of a scheme, called ‘scenarios’ in NoiseMap. Existing
functions have changed as little as possible.
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The Basics Of Noisemap Five: Changing From Noisemap Enterprise To Noisemap Five
For example, if you are using the stand-alone system, you select
the database file and load it in the same way that you would with
a Masterfile or Archive file.
Database Previewer
A database previewer shows all the scenarios in the model, and
allows you to select the scenario you require. You can divide
the noise model into named areas, so you can just load the area
of interest from the list of named areas.
You can resume work on a recent scenario, just by selecting it
from the ‘recently used’ list.
Using the remote system is virtually the same: you simply need
to select the server first, which is just like selecting the right
network drive when downloading an ordinary file, and then
select the database you require.
SMALL SCHEMES ALSO
BENEFIT
Even in small schemes you will need to do a ‘before’ and ‘after’
model for comparison of impacts. It is much easier to create
these different models because of the way that NoiseMap lets
you put in the differences and save as a new scenario. There is
no need to worry about which model files contain which
differences. The scenario handling facilities look after this
automatically.
Automated model creation increases the cost-effectiveness of
computerising the smallest models. Improved mapping also
benefits the presentation of schemes whatever their size.
AUTOMATIC TRACKING OF
SCHEME CHANGES
With NoiseMap, it is much easier to track changes to a scheme,
because you can save them as different scenarios within one
database. Furthermore, NoiseMap remembers which tiles were
included in each calculation, so that if you make a change to
those tiles, the result will be marked as ‘invalid’. When you
reload the result, either as an individual calculation or a contour,
you will be warned and you can choose whether to re-do the
affected results.
COMPUTER HARDWARE
NoiseMap is tested to work with Window XP, Vista and 7. In
common with other CAD/GIS applications, NoiseMap, is very
computationally-intensive and is therefore ‘processor-bound’. In
other words, processor clock rate is the main factor affecting
calculation speed. A PC designed for CAD-workstation use
would be ideal and we recommend that you should acquire the
fastest PC available at reasonable cost. The RAM should also be
as fast as possible.
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A base specification would use a 3 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or
equivalent processor with 800 MHz front-side bus and 2 GByte
of RAM (with Microsoft XP). NoiseMap is a single-threaded
application but you can purchase multiple-instance licences
which will take advantage of multi-core processors.
The 3-d viewer is both processor and RAM-intensive if you are
viewing large models. You need a good graphics card which
supports the Open GL standard. Most cards do so, although onboard graphics chips are occasionally troublesome, especially as
they rarely have any RAM of their own, and have to share main
RAM for the 3-d image.
A large display (21 inches or more) is advantageous and you
might wish to consider a second monitor for viewing the object
properties windows, as some of them are ‘persistent’ – you can
keep several of them open all the time, for example to see the
linkages between SiteNoise workings, activities and plant at the
same time.
A USB or parallel port is needed to connect the security dongle
(described in more detail later). You will need a network
connection if you are connecting to a remote machine or some
means of making back-ups if you have the database in the same
machine as the client software.
INTERNET CONNECTIONS
ARE NOT ESSENTIAL
You do not require any connection to other computers if you use
the stand-alone database system, although you may wish to have
an ordinary network connection to a file server to provide a
centralised file storage system.
However, if you wish to collaborate interactively with other
users, you will probably wish to use a remote database server.
Large organisations usually have a wide-area computer network
which would provide access to remote servers without using the
public internet, but of course, you can only share the database
with other people who have access to the network.
If you want to collaborate with people at many locations, then an
Internet connection could be much more economical than a
wide-area network. Always-on (broadband) connections are now
the norm.
If you have huge models, you will need to use the specialist
database server, but this can be located anywhere that you can
connect to – in your own PC, on an ordinary network or at a
commercial server farm.
INTERNET SECURITY
Whilst no public communication system is immune from attack,
we use password protection for information sent across the
Internet. We also back up the databases so that if they are
corrupted by a malicious attack, the loss of data is minimised.
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The Basics Of Noisemap Five: Installation
2:9
Transaction logs are also kept in event that the communication
system fails during a database operation. This helps to recover
any operations that did not complete because of the failure.
SSH
For additional security, NoiseMap can use communication
encryption known as SSH. This will work for any database
server that has this option installed. When you set up a server
connection from the NoiseMap File Menu, you simply need to
select the SSH option.
INSTALLATION
NoiseMap is usually supplied by internet download but can be
requested on a self-installing CD-ROM. If you are using the
Remote Server Option, when you have installed the software you
will need to ensure that you can connect to the database,
through your network firewall where applicable. See Setting up
a connection to a remote database server, page 18:1.
DONGLES
You will be supplied with a hardware security key or dongle,
which will either plug into your computer’s parallel printer port
or a USB port, depending on what you have ordered. The
security dongle must be in place during the operation of the
software: if it is removed, then the software will close down.
Your user licence may be ‘Permanent’, ‘Pay-As-You-Go’ (PAYG),
or ‘Calculation only’. PAYG dongles need to be kept topped-up
with user time, as described in the separate PAYG manual.
Calculation-only licences only permit a limited range of
functions, as described on page 14:4.
When using a Pay-As-You-Go dongle, you must use the timecodes in the same order that you download them: this is
important if you choose to get several codes at once.
LICENCE SCOPE
Your licence may cover the full NoiseMap System, or it may be
limited to one or two modules.
If your licence is limited to one or two modules, then you will be
able to load a full model but you will only be able to edit and
save those parts of the model covered by your licence. For
example, if you have a RoadNoise-only licence, you will be able
to load rail tracks and site routes (if these have been created by
someone with a licence that covers RailNoise or SiteNoise), but
you will not be able to make any changes to them. This ensures
that you always see the full model, even though you cannot
change certain parts of it.
Also, to calculate for RailNoise tracks or SiteNoise routes and
workings (either with a full or a calculation-only licence) your
licence must cover these elements.
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THE DATABASE
NoiseMap can connect to any number of databases. You will
need to know the location of the server on your computer
network or Internet, and the name of the database in order to
connect to it.
If you are using the remote database server, you will also need to
have a user name and password and appropriate ‘permissions’ in
order to connect to the database, to modify it, or to be allowed to
make calculations. User access and the level of permission is set
by your NoiseMap Database Administrator who you should
contact in event of difficulties in connecting to the database.
Single stand-alone databases do not require any user name or
password.
REMOTE DATABASE
If the database is on a remote computer, you will require a live
network or internet link whilst using it. NoiseMap Ltd runs a
suitable Internet server to which you can subscribe on payment
of a fee, or you can purchase the server software from NoiseMap
Ltd and provide your own server hardware. If you are running
your own server, you will need someone to act as database
administrator. The main duties of the administrator are described
in an appendix to this manual.
STAND-ALONE DATABASE
The stand-alone database is an ordinary network file that can be
on your own PC or on any network drive. It does not contain
any user management capability and security is dependent on
your own network security policies. The stand-alone database
system does not have any calculation queue facilities or multiple
user access capability.
MAP TILES
The database stores the model and noise maps in a series of
square ‘tiles’. Each tile is 500 m square and corresponds to a UK
Ordnance Survey ‘Landline’ tile, aligned to the National Grid. It
is possible to use a different tile size when the database is first set
up (on the remote server only). Each tile has a unique reference
number in the database (not the same as the OS system) but it
can also be given a ‘user-friendly’ name as well. In other
countries, any square grid system can be used.
Note: it is possible to stipulate a different tile size when creating a new
‘remote’ database, but this is not generally necessary or recommended.
Familiar names
It is also possible to give a ‘familiar’ name to any area of the map
covering any number of tiles, for example, ‘Southampton’,
‘Hampshire’, ‘England’. These areas can overlap and are just a
quick way to reference a set of tiles.
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The Basics Of Noisemap Five: The Database
The Basics Of Noisemap Five: The Database
2:11
Scenarios
You may wish to model many different situations, for example a
base case and different junction designs for a road scheme, or
different stages of work on a construction site. NoiseMap allows
a single model to contain any number of these different
situations, called Scenarios
DATABASE PREVIEWER
The database previewer is the hub of NoiseMap that allows you
to manage noise models of any complexity. It lets you name
map areas and load noise models in the area of interest. It shows
all the scenarios in the database and how they are related and
allows you to name or rename them. It also lets you see which
tiles are affected by the various scenarios.
Editing
Once you have downloaded the area, you can add, modify or
delete objects. The principal way of creating a noise model is to
import digital maps or engineering drawings in GIS Shapefile or
DXF format, and then to convert individual objects or complete
GIS or DXF layers into NoiseMap objects. You can also create
objects by tracing over pictures or bit-maps, or simply by
drawing on-screen. The techniques are fully described in this
manual.
When you have finished editing the model, you can save it back
to the database, either as a change to the existing scenario, or as
a new scenario.
Creating new scenarios
When you create a new scenario, this will be based on an
existing ‘parent’ scenario. Should any noise calculations require
data from surrounding tiles, the information will be taken from
the existing ‘parent’ model, unless and until you change it. This
means that you only need to change the relevant parts of a tile to
test the wider effects of a change.
These ‘rules of inheritance’ are explained in more detail
elsewhere.
DATABASE SERVER
MACHINE
NoiseMap will work perfectly well with the database hosted on
your user machine, especially if your models are not too huge
and you will be the only one working on it. This is equally true
of the stand-alone or remote server options.
However, you should bear in mind that searching a large
database does require a fair bit of processing power, and so you
may get lower performance if your computer is split between
searching the database and loading the model.
It is usually more difficult to arrange collaborative working if the
database is on a user machine, since it will need to be left on so
that other users can log into it remotely, and other users will
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drain some of its resources. For these reasons, it is usually
preferable to host large databases on a central server. It is not
essential for this machine to be dedicated to NoiseMap only.
DATABASE
ADMINISTRATION
A remote database will require someone to perform
administrative duties, particularly to add new users and
databases, to control access and to make backups. These
functions are simplified by using the Database Administration
Tool which is supplied with NoiseMap. For further information,
see Chapter18 on Database Setup and Administration, p18:1.
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The Basics Of Noisemap Five: The Database
Noisemap Models: Introduction
3:1
3. NOISEMAP MODELS
INTRODUCTION
A NoiseMap noise model supplies all the data that NoiseMap
requires to undertake noise predictions.
At its simplest level, the noise model can be regarded as a special
form of digital map. The NoiseMap model must describe:

Noise sources, such as roads, vehicles, plant, railway tracks

Transmission path, particularly noise barriers, ground
topography and hard or soft ground cover

Receiver locations
The user does not need to know in detail how these affect the
generation and spread of noise. For example, a barrier may
screen part of a road from some receivers, but other receivers
may not have any screening. The user does not need to consider
this detail. You only have to make sure that you put into the
model the various objects which affect the spread of noise, and
NoiseMap will work out how these affect the noise level at any
point of interest.
The noise model resembles the three-dimensional physical
situation, but only includes the features that affect the spread of
noise. These only need to be shown to a level of detail and
accuracy that will give acceptable noise calculations.
When you create a noise model, generally you will need to do
the following:
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual

Set up a database to hold the model and all the results;

Create a list of noise source information, such as traffic flows,
construction plant and railway vehicles, to be used in the
model;

Create a ground model, which gives the topography (ground
contours) of the study area; you may also need to enter
hard/soft ground information;

Enter information on building locations;

Enter information on noise barrier locations;

Enter information on noise source locations, ie roads, site
working locations, railway tracks;
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
Put noise sources into correct noise source locations

Enter noise receiver positions.
You may also need to set up noise source categories and various
other calculation parameters before starting any calculation
work.
Noise sources and locations are modelled slightly differently
depending on whether it is a road, site workings or a railway that
you are modelling, and these are described later in this section.
Detailed information on modelling each of these types of source
is given in separate chapters later in this manual.
Digital mapping
The advent of digital mapping has changed the way that noise
models are created. In the past, users would have digitised a
paper map by manually tracing objects using an electronic
drawing board (digitising tablet). The time needed to do this,
coupled with the relatively low speed of computers meant that it
was important to be selective over the detail put into noise
models.
NoiseMap makes it possible to create noise models directly from
digital mapping, using automated conversion features in the
software. The conversion process strips out unnecessary features
and detail from the digital map, whilst adding other essential
information that would not be present in the map. For example,
a digital map is often only two-dimensional. NoiseMap can
import ground contour details and use these to add a height
dimension to other objects such as roads or noise barriers.
Digital maps do not contain information on traffic flows, rail
roughness or road surface texture, but NoiseMap helps you to
add this information to the noise model.
However, a digital map is likely to contain irrelevant detail such
as individual trees and low walls, or information that cannot be
readily used such as various ground detail.
It will depend on the project whether detail should be processed
and added to base mapping in an external GIS or drawing
system, or whether it should be done in NoiseMap. NoiseMap is
a specialised GIS and has many features of a drawing system, but
it does not replace general-purpose packages.
Information required in a
noise model
The full and complete information ideally needed for a noise
model is set out in Chapter 20, which also defines the contents of
the Shapefiles used by NoiseMap to export its noise models.
Shapefiles are a method of data transfer used by ESRI GIS
systems.
Shapefiles in this format can be immediately imported into
NoiseMap and automatically converted into a noise model.
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Noisemap Models: Introduction
Noisemap Models: Structure Of A Roadnoise Model
3:3
Shapefiles in other formats can also be imported and
automatically converted, although they may not contain all the
information needed for a complete noise model. The additional
information must then be imported from other sources, generated
with the use of tools within NoiseMap, or added manually.
Other digital maps such as those in DXF (AutoCAD data
exchange format) can be used, but these are more limited than
shapefiles and some post-processing within NoiseMap is likely to
be needed.
Creating a noise map can require a large amount of data to be
assembled in a suitable format. This step is vitally important to
the efficient creation of noise models, particularly complex
models covering large areas. We would strongly recommend
that you read the relevant ‘How to …’ guides. You may also
wish to consider the capabilities of the scripting interface to
automate repetitive tasks.
HEIGHT INFORMATION
The height dimension is particularly important when modelling
the spread of noise, but height information is often missing from
maps and drawings, whether in paper or digital format.
However, digital height data is now becoming available at
reasonable cost through the use of large-area ‘remote surveying’
techniques, which has greatly simplified this aspect of noise
modelling.
NoiseMap contains a number of tools for adding separatelyobtained height information to two-dimensional maps, for
example by ‘draping’ them over a grid (or array) of height values
(ground levels).
The options for obtaining height information are discussed more
fully in Chapter 4 Creating Noise Models.
STRUCTURE OF A ROADNOISE MODEL
The foundation of a RoadNoise model is a geographical model of
the area where the activities will occur. This is usually created
from a digital map, which may be taken from Ordnance Survey
digital mapping, an AutoCAD drawing or digitised by hand from
a ‘bitmap’ picture of the area of interest. The bitmap picture can
be created by scanning paper maps.
The geographical model should include ground contours,
buildings, noise barriers, receiver locations etc. This step is the
same for all noise models, whatever the noise source. The main
steps in creating a RoadNoise Model are:
Traffic flows
Create a table of traffic flows so that you can put a flow on every
segment of road in the model. You do not need to have a
separate entry in the table for each segment in the model – if the
same flow continues along many segments of road, you would
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only need one flow value and you can assign the same flow
value to each segment.
You can create the table of traffic flows in many ways, for
example you can create it in a spreadsheet and then import the
values into NoiseMap. You can enter traffic flows for a single
day, the 18-hour day, day/evening/night periods or for individual
hours. See the Index for guidance on the options.
Road segments
The road segments identify the location of the road you wish to
model. Each segment is straight and of constant width. It need
not be level, but it must have a constant slope. The road
segment also has a surface texture and other characteristics
which are defined in the road segment properties box.
Assign traffic flows to
segments
You do not enter the traffic flows directly into the road segments.
You give each segment a flow reference number that
corresponds to a particular line in the traffic flow table. This
means that you can assess a different traffic flow scenario simply
by changing the traffic flow table.
Undertake calculations
You can now calculate the noise level at individual receivers or
you can calculate noise contours over an area. NoiseMap offers
you many different calculation methods and noise indexes.
STRUCTURE OF A SITENOISE MODEL
The foundation of a SiteNoise model is a geographical model of
the area where the activities will occur. This is usually created
from a digital map of the area, which may be taken from
Ordnance Survey digital mapping, an AutoCAD drawing or
digitised by hand from a ‘bitmap’ picture of the area of interest.
The bitmap picture can be created by scanning paper maps.
The geographical model should include
buildings, noise barriers, etc. If you have
geographical model, perhaps for a city noise
scheme, then you can just add the SiteNoise
this existing model.
ground
already
map or
sources
contours,
created a
for a road
directly to
There are four main steps in adding the SiteNoise sources to a
geographical model:
Plant list
Create a table of information on the noise characteristics of each
item of plant to be used in the model. This might be taken from
a table of noise data such as in BS5228, or from manufacturer’s
data or obtained by measurement.
Working locations
Add locations into the geographical model to show where plant
could be working. These could be fixed points or routes that
3:4
Noisemap Models: Structure Of A Sitenoise Model
Noisemap Models: Structure Of A Sitenoise Model
3:5
moving plant will follow. You can add these from digital
mapping or by tracing over a bitmap with the mouse.
Activities
Create the activities which will generate the noise. For this, you
will need to discuss with the site engineers to ascertain what
activities will take place on the site.
Position the activities
Put the activities into the appropriate working locations. These
might be different at the various stages of working a site, and you
can create different scenarios to represent each of these stages,
based on a general map of the site. It is those activities that you
have positioned at the working locations that create the noise.
SEQUENCE OF MODELLING
The sequence of the various steps is shown in the diagram
below.
You can add the working locations at the same time as you are
creating the rest of the geographical model.
You will need to create the table of Plant Source Noise data first,
so that you can use it to create activities, but you can create
activities before or after you have added the working locations.
Create
Geographical
model
Create Table of
Plant Source
Noise Data
Enter Working
Locations
Create
Activities
Put Activities into
Working
Locations
Sequence of creating a SiteNoise model
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POSITIONING ACTIVITIES
AT WORKING LOCATIONS
The last step in creating a SiteNoise model is to put activities into
the working locations. You need to create both the activities and
the working locations before you can do this.
To put an activity into a working location, select the location by
clicking it with the mouse. You can choose a chain of working
locations by selecting one object in the chain and then using
Ctrl+R to select the whole chain.
Then open the Object Properties dialogue by doubleclicking on the working location or by selecting the editing
button from the toolbar. In the Working Activities section
of the object properties dialogue, double-click on the box
marked Select Activity to insert. The drop-down
will show all the available activities. (Note that ‘mobile’
activities will not be shown for fixed workings, and ‘stationary’
activities will not be shown for mobile workings.)
Select the activity you require and it will be added to the
working location. You can repeat to add as many activities as
you require to the selected locations.
Activity location
properties
When you first create an activity, you set up default (initial)
values for the plant. These include:

Category: This is a way of getting the separate noise
contributions of various items of plant or activities, and is
explained in detail later.

% on-time: This is the proportion of the assessment period
that this item of plant will be operating.

Speed: This is the speed at which the item of plant moves in
km/h. (only used if it is on a haul route)

Flow: This is the number of times per hour that this item of
plant passes along a haul route. (only used if it is on a haul
route).
You can override these default values when you put the activity
onto a working location. In fact, you can use different values for
the above items at each working location, and they can be
different in each scenario.
You can override either the values for the whole activity, or you
can override the values for each individual item of plant.
ACTIVITIES EXPLAINED
Activities are at the core of SiteNoise. They tell the model which
items of plant are used at which locations in the model. It is the
activities located at working locations that make the noise.
Examples of activities on a construction site might be:
3:6
Noisemap Models: Structure Of A Sitenoise Model
Noisemap Models: Structure Of A Sitenoise Model
3:7

Top soil removal

Excavating sub-soil

Digging drainage channels
Examples of activities on an industrial site might be:

Main ventilation fan

Cyclone fan

Compressors

Delivery vehicles arriving
Examples of activities on a petrochemical site might be:

Oil pump for separators

Oil pump for storage tank

Gas valve from separators

Pipeline to flare
It is clear that for the industrial and petrochemical sites, many of
the activities are fixed, although they could be point or line
sources, whilst for the construction site, many of the activities are
mobile.
SiteNoise contains the tools needed to model each of these.
Multiple plant
In SiteNoise, each activity can use any number of items of plant.
For example, excavating subsoil might involve the use of an
excavator to dig up the soil, and a dump truck to take the soil
away. So you might have two items of plant involved in this one
activity.
Multiple locations
The same activity might take place at many different locations.
You only need to create the activity once and then you can place
it at any number of different locations.
An activity does not generate any noise until it has been placed
at a working location.
SCENARIOS
Most noise studies involve the comparison of different situations
(called Scenarios in NoiseMap). For example, you may wish to
compare different stages in the construction of a road. NoiseMap
lets you create any number of scenarios, which ‘inherit’ their
initial properties from a base scenario.
The same plant and activity list is available in all scenarios, but
the activities can be in different locations (or not used at all) in
each scenario.
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ASSESSMENT PERIOD
The Equivalent Continuous Sound Level (LAeq) index used by
SiteNoise is the average noise level over a definite period of
time. However, in SiteNoise, you do not set the assessment time
as an explicit parameter.
Percentage on-time
Instead, you choose the amount of the assessment period that an
activity takes place and then set the Percentage On Time
accordingly.
For example, suppose that you have a 12-hour assessment
period, say from 7 am to 7 pm, but a particular activity A will
only be taking place from 8 am to 12 noon (4 hours) during the
assessment period. You would set the activity with a Percentage
On-time of (4/12) * 100 % = 33.3 %.
Suppose another activity B starts at 12 noon and continues to 10
pm. Since the assessment period finishes at 7 pm, the activity
takes place for 7 hours of the assessment period, so you set the
percentage on-time to (7/12) * 100 % = 58.3 %.
Note that if you change the assessment period, you will need to
modify the percentage on-time appropriately. Thus, if the
assessment period is changed to 8 am to 6 pm (10 hours), then
Activity A will take place for 4/10 *100 = 40 % of the time, but
Activity B will take place for 6/10 * 100 = 60 % of the time.
Flow rate
For haul routes, the flow rate is in movements per hour. This
should be the average flow rate over the assessment period.
However, if you know that a particular activity requires 2
vehicles per hour, but only taking place over half of the
assessment period, you will get the same result by giving a flow
rate of 2 vehicles per hour with a 50 % on-time, or 1 vehicle per
hour with 100 % on-time.
STRUCTURE OF A RAILNOISE MODEL
The foundation of a RailNoise model is a geographical model of
the area where the services will occur. This is usually created
from a digital map of the area, which may be taken from
Ordnance Survey digital mapping, an AutoCAD drawing or
digitised by hand from a ‘bitmap’ picture of the area of interest.
The bitmap picture can be created by scanning paper maps.
The geographical model should include ground contours,
buildings, noise barriers, etc. If you have already created a
geographical model, perhaps for a city noise map or for a road
scheme, then you can just add the RailNoise sources directly to
this existing model. A single NoiseMap model can contain road,
rail and site noise sources. You choose which type of source to
calculate when you do the noise calculation.
3:8
Noisemap Models: Structure Of A Railnoise Model
Noisemap Models: Sequence Of Modelling
3:9
CREATING A RAILNOISE
MODEL
There are four main steps in adding the RailNoise sources to a
geographical model:
Train vehicle list
Create a table of information on the noise characteristics of each
railway train vehicle to be used in the model. This might be
taken from a table of noise data such as in ‘Calculation of
Railway Noise’, or from manufacturer’s data or obtained by
measurement.
Railway tracks
Add the location of railway tracks into the geographical model to
show where train services could run. You can add these from
digital mapping or by tracing over a bitmap with the mouse.
Train services
Create the train services which will generate the noise. For this,
you will need to discuss with the railway engineers to ascertain
what train services will use the railway.
Position the train services
Put the train services onto the appropriate tracks. You must put
train services onto the appropriate tracks before you can
calculate the amount of noise they create.
Scenarios
You can create different scenarios to represent various stages in
the development of the railway.
SEQUENCE OF MODELLING
The sequence of the various steps is shown in the diagram
below.
You can add the tracks at the same time as you are creating the
rest of the geographical model.
You will need to create the table of Train Vehicle Source Noise
data before creating the train services, so that you can use the
appropriate train vehicles when creating services. However, you
can create train services before or after you have added the
tracks.
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Create
Geographical
model
Create Table of
Train Vehicle
Source Noise
Data
Enter Railway
Track
Locations
Create
Train
Services
Put Train
Services onto
Railway Tracks
Sequence of creating a Railnoise model
POSITIONING SERVICES
ONTO TRACKS
The last step in creating a RailNoise model is to put train services
onto the segments of track. You need to create both the train
services and the segments of track before you can do this.
To put a service into a segment of track, select the track by
clicking it with the mouse. You can choose a chain of segments
of track by selecting one object in the chain and then using
Ctrl+R to select the whole chain.
Then open the Object Properties dialogue by clicking the
Edit current selection button on the toolbar. In the
Track Services section of the object properties dialogue,
double-click on the box marked Select Service to
insert. The drop-down will show all the available services.
Select the service you require and it will be added to the selected
segment or segments of track. You can repeat to add as many
services as you require to the selected locations. [Note: each
service can only be added once to each segment.]
TRAIN SERVICES EXPLAINED
Train services are at the core of RailNoise. They tell the model
which railway vehicles are used at which locations in the model.
3:10
Noisemap Models: Train Services Explained
Noisemap Models: Train Services Explained
3:11
It is the train services running on segment of tracks that make
the noise.
Multiple train vehicles
In RailNoise, each service can be made up from any number of
train vehicles, of the same type or of different types.
For example, a service may consist of two diesel locomotives
hauling a train of 10 carriages of one type and three carriages of
a different type. So you might have a total of 15 train vehicles of
three different types involved in this one service.
Multiple locations
The train service would run along many segments of track. You
only need to set up the details of the service once and then you
can position it along any number of different locations.
A train service does not generate any noise until it has been
positioned on one or more segments of track.
Service location properties
Certain aspects of train operation can vary along the length of the
track. For example, the speed of the train will vary, and for
diesel locomotives, they may run at full power only on certain
sections of track. Also, the flow rate of a service may vary: for
example, there may be a lower train frequency at the rural
extremities of a service than in urban areas.
When you first create a service, you set up default (initial) values
for these location-dependent train operating parameters. The
default initial values include:

Category: This is a way of getting the separate noise
contributions of various rail vehicles or train services, and is
explained in detail later.

Speed: This is the speed at which train moves in km/h.

Flow: This is the number of times that this train passes along
this part of the track during the assessment period (see
below).

Power: This applies only to diesel locomotives and lets you
set whether the loco is on power or off power by default.
You can override these default values when you put the service
onto a segment of track. In fact, you can use different values for
the above items on each segment of track, and they can be
different in each scenario.
SCENARIOS
Most noise studies involve the comparison of different situations
(called Scenarios in NoiseMap). For example, you may wish to
assess the effect of adding a new train service. NoiseMap Server
Edition lets you create any number of scenarios, which ‘inherit’
their initial properties from a base scenario.
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The same train vehicle and train service list is available in all
scenarios, but you can change the train services that run on each
track (or not used at all) in each scenario.
ASSESSMENT PERIOD
The Equivalent Continuous Sound Level (LAeq) index used by
RailNoise is the average noise level over a definite period of
time. In RailNoise, you set the assessment time as an explicit
value in the Calculation Parameters. [This is different
from SiteNoise, where the assessment period is not set explicitly,
but is controlled by the percentage on time in relation to an
assumed assessment period. For this reason, there is no
Percentage on-time parameter in RailNoise.]
Flow rate
For train services, the flow rate is in movements per assessment
period. For example, if you choose a 12-hour assessment period,
then the flow rate is the total number of trains over the 12-hour
period, not the average hourly flow rate over the assessment
period.
This is because it is usually easier to obtain the total train flow
over the assessment period, since the train frequency might vary
throughout the operational period. This is similar to the way that
road traffic flows are dealt with.
3:12
Noisemap Models: Assessment Period
Creating Noise Models: Starting The Software
4:1
4. CREATING NOISE MODELS
STARTING THE SOFTWARE
NoiseMap uses noise models that are stored in a database. When
you start the software, initially the screen is blank. The first step
is to connect to the database or database server that manages the
database you wish to use. You will require a login name and
password to connect to a remote database server, but you only
need ordinary file permissions to connect to a stand-alone
database.
When you connect to a remote server, you will see a dialogue
box that lists all the databases which you can access and you
should select the appropriate one. If you cannot see the database
you require, or your access is limited to ‘read-only’ and you wish
to make changes or to undertake any calculations, your database
administrator will need to change your database permissions.
Further details are given in the section Connecting to Database
below. The secure SSH method of connection to NoiseMap Ltd’s
own NoiseMap database server is described on page 2:9.
NEW SCHEMES – SCENARIOS AND DATABASES
The database server can hold a large number of different
databases. Each database can be thought of as a ‘scheme’ in the
sense of the classic NoiseMap Enterprise file system, although
one database can contain any number of scenarios relating to
that scheme, such as ‘before’, ‘after’ and any number of
alternatives.
If you wish to start a completely new project, you may wish to
create a new database to keep this project separate from others.
This makes it easier to archive projects that you have finished.
Alternatively, you may wish to create the project as a new
scenario within an existing database.
CREATING A NEW DATABASE
You can create a new stand-alone database from within
NoiseMap, by choosing the File, New database file
option.
To create a new database on a remote server you must use the
separate Database Administrator tool, see Database
Administration, page 18:2.
You can add as many new scenarios to an existing database as
you wish from within NoiseMap. Whenever you create a new
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scenario, this will inherit the characteristics of its parent scenario.
The first scenario that you create in a database is called the Base
Scenario and it will be empty when you first create it. If you wish
to avoid the need to create new databases, you can keep the
base scenario empty, then you can always start a new scenario
from this empty base. To do this, when you first enter objects
into the model, you save them into a child scenario, rather than
the base scenario. This keeps the base scenario empty.
CREATING AND EDITING NOISE MODELS
If you have just created a new database, you will need to
populate it with a noise model. The options for doing this are
described in the following section ‘Options for loading noise
modelling data’, see page 4:3.
The basic contents of a noise model, and methods of navigating
around it and editing it, are described in Chapter 5.
CONNECTING TO DATABASE
The method of connecting to the database depends on whether it
is a stand-alone database or a remote database, but once
connected, the two systems are used in exactly the same manner.
STAND-ALONE DATABASE

From the File menu, select Open database file;

This will open an ordinary File Open dialogue box where
you will be able to navigate to the file folder where your
database is stored: Select from the list the database file you
require and click OK.
The connection will be established, but no model data is loaded
so the NoiseMap screen remains blank at this point, except for a
pink strip at one edge to show that the database is connected.
You can now load the model data as described below, under
‘Options for loading noise modelling data’, page 4:3.
REMOTE DATABASE
To connect to a remote database, go to the File menu and
select Connect to server. This will open the dialog:
4:2
Creating Noise Models: Connecting To Database
Creating Noise Models: Options For Loading Noise Modelling Data
NoiseMap Remote Server Login
This will open a dialogue box where you will be asked to select
the appropriate NoiseMap server: select the one you require
from the drop-down list and click OK. If your server is not listed,
then your computer needs to have a new server connection
added as described in the section Setting up a connection to a
remote database server on page 18:1.
Select the appropriate connection, type in your user name and
password and click OK. (If you are unsure about these details,
contact your database administrator for assistance.)
You can select this as the default server so that you can use the
Establish Default Connection option next time.
Select database

If the selected data source has more than one database
associated with it, these will be shown. Select the one that
you require. This can be set as the default database so that it
will be automatically selected next time.

When the link has been established, a dialogue box will
confirm the link and the name of the database. If this is
correct, click Yes to continue.
Load model
The connection is now established, but no model data is loaded
and so the NoiseMap screen remains blank at this point, except
for a pink strip at one edge to show that the database is
connected. You can now load the model data.
OPTIONS FOR LOADING NOISE MODELLING DATA
The main ways of loading noise modelling data are as follows:

Preview the database, see page 4:4

Load tiles from the database, see page 4:8

Import an existing masterfile (in NoiseMap traditional
format), see page 4:9

Import an existing archive (in NoiseMap archive format) see
page 4:10

Build a new scheme from scratch, see page 4:13

Load noise contours stored in database, see page 10:7.

Undertake calculations on the database, see page 10:1.
These options are discussed in detail in the following sections.
RECENT DATABASES
If you have recently been using a database but have not set it as
the default, select File, Recent Databases to select from a
list of recently-used databases. You will be offered a dialogue
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box with the server, database, scenario and user name already
entered. Just enter your user password and click Load.
If you only want to connect to the database without loading it,
then Ctrl+Click the Load button.
DATABASE PREVIEWER
The database previewer provides a visual interface to the
database without needing to know any tile numbers or coordinates. It shows you

which scenarios are contained in the database,

which tiles contain data for each scenario,

the size and location of a named area.
You also use the previewer to create or modify named areas.
You can download a ‘preview’ of any tiles that you have
selected. You cannot edit or calculate on the preview, but you
can see which objects are present in any particular scenario.
From the preview screen, you can choose to load the editable
model of the selected area, so that you can do full editing and
calculation of the model.
You can choose which of the objects contained within the model
will be displayed when you load a preview. By default, this is
only road segments, railway tracks and site workings. This lets
you identify an area whilst keeping display speed fast. You can
also choose to include other objects such as Building Outlines.
4:4
Creating Noise Models: Database Previewer
Creating Noise Models: Database Previewer
4:5
Database Previewer Dialogue
STARTING THE DATABASE
PREVIEWER
Select File, Database previewer. The Database previewer
opens with a dialogue box containing three sections:

Objects to be shown in preview

Scenarios in the selected database

Named areas
These are described in the following sections.
Objects to preview
The Objects to preview check boxes let you select which objects
will be downloaded in preview mode. By default, this is only
Road Segments, Railway Tracks and Site Workings, but you may
include other objects such as barriers, contours, receivers and
building outlines. You should note that in large models, it may
take a significant time to download large amounts of detail, such
as building outlines, so you may not always want to preview
these.
Select all tiles in scenario
The list shows all the scenarios that are in the database. Click on
any one of the scenarios to highlight it. NoiseMap will colour in
purple all the database tiles that contain some objects for the
chosen scenario. Note: the display does not automatically centre
around the area occupied by the chosen tiles: to find the tiles,
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you will need to click the mouse on the NoiseMap title bar and
then use the Cursor Keys (not the mouse) to navigate to the area
of interest.
Icons
The scenarios are shown in a tree format, with circular icons.
These icons can be coloured to signify various conditions:

Hollow (empty) – unpopulated for some or all of the
highlighted tiles (coloured purple) on the graphical display

Filled red – contains data for all the highlighted tiles and is
the currently selected scenario

Filled blue – contains data for all the highlighted tiles, but is
not the currently selected scenario

Contains a red arrow – scenario is a parent of other
scenarios
Inherit Parent Tiles
If the Inherit parent tiles checkbox is clear, then when
you select a scenario from the Scenario list, NoiseMap will
highlight only those tiles where the geographic data is different
from the parent scenario. The tiles containing only data inherited
from the parent scenario will not be highlighted. When you
Load a scenario, only the highlighted tiles will be loaded.
By checking the Inherit parent tiles checkbox, you can
highlight all the tiles containing geographic data for the scenario,
including those inherited from parent scenarios.
Limit selection to named
area
Clicking on any of the named areas in this list will highlight the
tiles corresponding to the named area. The display will
automatically zoom to that area.
If no scenario has been selected from the scenario list, the
complete named area will be shown. If a scenario is also
selected, then the highlighted tiles will be only those in the
named area which also apply to the selected scenario (including
any parents if the Inherit box is checked).
The named area list also includes two special entries.

All populated tiles – highlights every tile populated in the
database

All loaded tiles - restricts the preview to those tiles where
you have already downloaded some objects from the
database. This is particularly useful if you are using the
previewer to compare two scenarios
Add
Add allows you to create a new named area. Select the required
tiles in the graphical view and then click ‘Add’.
4:6
Creating Noise Models: Database Previewer
Creating Noise Models: Database Previewer
4:7
Modify
Modify allows you to change the tiles that are included in a
named area.
Delete
Delete removes the selected named area from the database.
Clear list
Clears any selection in the list box or manually selected tiles.
SELECTING TILES IN THE
PREVIEWER
To select tiles, you choose a scenario and a named area. The
tiles within this scenario and named area will be highlighted in
purple. You can then change the selected tiles by using the
mouse. There are three methods of selection

Clicking a tile toggles its selection (it selects a tile that was
not selected, and deselects a tile that was selected). You can
click and drag to toggle the selection of a number of tiles.

Shift-click deselects a tile. You can click and drag to deselect
a number of tiles.

Ctrl-click selects a tile. You can click and drag to select a
number of tiles.
DOWNLOADING FROM
DATABASE
You can download from the database any tiles that are selected
in the previewer. You can either download a Preview, which is
a non-editable skeleton view of the chosen area, or you
download the full editable version of the chosen area.
Preview
This button will download a preview (skeleton view) of the
selected objects contained within the highlighted (selected) tiles.
If you have selected a scenario from the list, that will be
previewed automatically. If not, you will be asked which
scenario to load.
Load
This button will download the full model detail for all objects
within the selected tiles, but only those that are visible in the
display. This means that for scenarios that cover very large areas,
such as the Base Scenario, you can avoid loading excessively
large areas.
If you already have some part of the model loaded, the same
scenario will be loaded for your requested area - you cannot load
two scenarios at once. You can preview a different scenario
from the one you currently have loaded, which allows you to
compare the differences between two scenarios.
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If no area is currently loaded, you can select which scenario you
want to load from the scenario list.
Clear preview
This removes any currently displayed preview from the screen.
RULES OF INHERITANCE
The rules of inheritance govern the way that information in a
‘child’ scenario is affected by changes to the ‘parent’ scenario on
which it was originally based. The rules are intended to be
‘intuitive’, ie to behave in the way you would expect and want
them to behave, and generally users should not need to worry
about them too much. This section introduces the rules of
inheritance, but for more details, see Chapter 9 Scenarios.
You create a new scenario when you save changes to a scenario
as a new ‘child’ rather than to the scenario you are working on.
The original scenario becomes the ‘parent’ of the child. If any
noise calculations require data from surrounding tiles which do
not have any objects belonging to the scenario, the information
will be taken from the parent model. This means that you only
have to change the relevant parts of the affected tiles in order to
test the effects of a change across a wide area.
If you make a change to objects in the ‘parent’ scenario, then
these will affect any descendants of the parent, unless that object
was deleted or altered in the ‘child’ scenario.
If you create new objects in a ‘parent’, they will appear in the
child. Changes in a child scenario will never affect the parent.
It is not possible to save changes into a new scenario that is
independent of any parent.
Some information is not limited to a particular tile or a particular
scenario, including calculation control parameters, categories
and combinations, site plant and train vehicle definitions, site
activity and train service definitions. For these items, the user
has some control over the way that information is inherited, see
page 9:4 onwards.
LOADING TILES FROM DATABASE
Select File, Load from database. This will open a
dialogue asking you to select the tiles to load.
Named areas
If areas of your database have been given names, you can click
on Show area names and you will see a list of all the named
areas in alphabetical order. Click on the name that you require
and click OK. The name will be entered into the dialogue box.
4:8
Creating Noise Models: Loading Tiles From Database
Creating Noise Models: Import Existing Noisemap Enterprise Models
Tile names or numbers
If you require an un-named area, type in the familiar name or the
database index number of the tiles you require. If you require
several tiles, separate each tile number with a comma.
Postcodes
If you have the OS AddressPoint database loaded into your
server, you can move directly to that area. For example, to
navigate to postcode SE11 4TH, type the following into the
dialogue box, observing the correct spacing in the code:
POST:SE11 4TH
Surround margin
To avoid edge effects when doing noise calculations, or simply
so that you can see more of the scheme, you may wish to
include a number of tiles around the tile of interest. You can do
this automatically by entering the required width of the
surrounding margin in the box. If you are loading a single tile, a
surround margin of 1 will load nine tiles: the centre tile and the
eight tiles surrounding it. A surround margin of two will load 25
tiles, and so on.
SELECT SCENARIO
A dialogue will now show you a list of the scenarios that exist for
the selected tiles. The coloured icons show which scenarios
contain data for the selected tiles, see page 4:5.
If you uncheck the box marked Only scenarios which
apply to selected tiles then all scenarios in the
database will be shown.
Scroll to the required scenario. The lower section of the
dialogue box gives you further information on the selected
scenario. Click OK to load the scenario.
The information for the selected tiles will now be retrieved from
the server. A series of information windows will inform you of
progress. When retrieval is complete, the selected area will be
displayed on screen.
IMPORT EXISTING NOISEMAP ENTERPRISE MODELS
You can import a NoiseMap Enterprise modelwhich has been
stored either in Masterfile format or in Archive format. These
will be converted into database format and will be merged with
any model already in the database. The merging process may
require some manual intervention if imported traffic flows,
categories and combinations have numbers already used in the
database. You may find it useful to check traffic flow numbers,
categories and combinations before beginning the merge process
so that you can decide what to do if the same numbers are used
in both. The following sections describe the process in more
detail.
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Hint: .MAS files
Microsoft has adopted the file extension .MAS to mean ‘Microsoft Access Stored
procedure’ which is a type of file that can make changes to your computer
software. They have therefore prevented .MAS files from being downloaded by
Outlook. You can make a Registry change that reverts them to normal
treatment, but if you need to email such files, it might be simpler to change the
file extension to a different name, and rename once received.
When some objects cross a tile edge, they will be split into two
objects and both objects will inherit compatible properties. For
example, where a road segment crosses a tile edge, the original
traffic flow will be assigned to both of the new segments. Its
height at the boundary will be interpolated from the height at the
two ends
To import an existing Masterfile, click File, Import
scheme. The file menu will open and you should navigate to
the appropriate masterfile and click OK. The file will be
downloaded and in the process each object will be allocated to
the appropriate tile. The objects will become part of the current
database and current scenario. The original file allocation of the
objects is not retained.
IMPORT EXISTING ARCHIVE
INTRODUCTION TO
ARCHIVES
An Archive is a compressed noise model file in the form of a
computer ‘memory map’. An archive stores all the objects and
other model information that are downloaded to NoiseMap at
the time the archive is saved. In NoiseMap fi√e, this does not
include any noise contour that was on screen or any bitmap that
was loaded.
Its primary purpose is to save a snapshot for record and backup
purposes. It can also be used to transfer the snapshot to a new
database or standalone computer. With some limitations, it can
also be used to transfer models to and from other versions of
NoiseMap and to export a scenario to a new database.
An Archive is not a database, so it must be converted into the
appropriate database form when it is loaded. If you are loading
an archive into a new database, this is straightforward – the
archived information fills in the details in the empty database.
However, if you are importing into a database that already
contains information, then the new details must be merged into
the existing details without causing conflicts. This checking and
merging process may require some manual intervention as
described below.
There are four types of archive file:

4:10
.nma – NoiseMap archive – can store all information from a
NoiseMap model;
Creating Noise Models: Import Existing Archive
Creating Noise Models: Merging Archives And Masterfiles Into An Existing Model

.rna – RoadNoise Archive – can store all information
pertinent to roads and can be read into a RoadNoise
Enterprise model;

.sna – SiteNoise Archive – can store information pertinent to
sites and can be read into a SiteNoise Enterprise model;

.tna – RailNoise archive – can store information pertinent to
rail models and can be read into a RailNoise Enterprise
model.
Any of the above types of archive can be read into NoiseMap
five. You should note that some advanced features of site
models – such as multiple plant in one activity – are not
supported in SiteNoise Enterprise, and the same is true of
RailNoise Enterprise. If you export models that use these
advanced features, they will be omitted from .rna, .sna and .tna
archives, and only included in .nma archives.
COMMENCE ARCHIVE
IMPORT
To import an existing Archive, click File, Import archive.
The file menu will open and you should navigate to the
appropriate archive file and click OK.
The file will be
downloaded and in the process each object will be allocated to
the appropriate tile. The objects will become part of the current
database and current scenario. Details of the original file
allocation of the objects will be lost.
Where an object crosses a tile edge, it will be split into two
objects and both objects will inherit compatible properties. For
example, where a road segment crosses a tile edge, the original
traffic flow will be assigned to both of the new segments.
Similarly, where a ground profile crosses a tile edge, its height at
the boundary will be interpolated from the height at the two
ends.
MERGING ARCHIVES AND MASTERFILES INTO AN EXISTING MODEL
CONSISTENCY CHECKS
If you are importing into a new database, checks are made for
internal consistency. You should always review the Output
Screen to check the messages. When you import an archive or
masterfile into an existing model, NoiseMap will check for
clashes with information already present in those tiles. For
example, the same traffic flow IDs, category numbers or category
combination names might be used in both places.
If the same traffic flow ID is used in both places, they may
represent entirely different traffic flows, they may simply
duplicate information already present, or they may represent a
new scenario for an existing road. NoiseMap provides a method
to deal with these potential conflicts.
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You should note that the process of merging two models is
entirely different from importing traffic flows from a spreadsheet,
where you often want the imported traffic flows to replace
existing flows. See Importing Traffic Flows for a description of
this process.
Before importing an archive or masterfile into an existing
database, you will find it helpful to check whether the same
traffic flow ID numbers are used in both, and if so, which of the
above situations applies to each flow. If you want to avoid traffic
flow conflicts when merging two models, it may be advisable to
delete them from the original file before saving the archive.
You should make corresponding checks on category numbers
and category combinations.
NoiseMap also checks to see if any objects exactly duplicate
objects already in the model – for example, road segments or
building outlines. You should check the Output Window for
messages.
You can remove the duplicates by selecting
Calculate> Check Loaded Model and select All but
the oldest duplicate and then click Delete. This will
remove all the duplicate instances of the object. For further
details, see p 13:12.
MERGING CATEGORIES
AND COMBINATIONS
When an archive is imported into an existing database, any
categories and combinations in the imported file must be merged
with those already in the database. Firstly, the Categories must
be set up, and then the Combinations. A dialogue window opens
to control this process.
Importing categories and combinations
4:12
Creating Noise Models: Merging Archives And Masterfiles Into An Existing Model
Creating Noise Models: Creating And Updating Noisemap Models
The upper section of the window on the left shows the Category
and Combination information in the imported Masterfile or
Archive file. The information already in the model is shown on
the upper right. This is for information only and is not used
during importation.
You use the lower section of the window to configure (allocate)
first the imported the categories. In the dialogue shown above, it
is asking you deal with Category 1. In the drop-down list at
bottom right, you can select one of the existing Categories, or
you can select ‘New Category’ in which case, you can choose a
‘New Number’ and a New Description (name) for the category.
You must repeat this process for all the Categories in the
imported file.
You must now configure the Combinations. The process is
similar. You will be asked to allocate each of the combinations
in the imported file either to an existing combination, or to create
a new combination.
TRAFFIC FLOW ID
NUMBERS
Because most models have a large number of traffic flows, it is
not desirable to review the assignment of each traffic flow during
import. The following procedure is therefore used.

If the traffic flow number is not already in the database, it is
imported without change.

If the traffic flow number is already present in the database,
then the flow already in the database is renumbered to the
next available new number
The output log will record any changes made to the numbering.
It is important to check this as it is the only record of the changes
that have been made.
NoiseMap assigns unique internal numbers to each flow, so it
will still assign the correct flow to the segment, but care in this
process will avoid potential confusion if traffic flows need to be
edited subsequently.
CREATING AND UPDATING NOISEMAP MODELS
Once you have opened the database where your model will
reside, you may want to create a new model or make changes to
an existing model. You can import Masterfiles from the
Enterprise or earlier versions of the software, and you can edit an
existing model once you have imported it.
Shapefile
If you are creating a new scenario, you will probably wish to do
this from digital maps and other data. Probably the most efficient
way is to import mapping and other data in the form of a
‘Shapefile’, described below. Shapefiles contain not only the 3NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
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D location of objects, but also other attributes like traffic flows,
road surface types, addresses and so on.
DXF
Drawing Exchange format (DXF) is a very common format for
digital drawings, originating from AutoCAD. It normally only
allows 2-D or 3-D lines to be imported, without the ‘attributes’
available in a Shapefile. You can import and undertake
automatic conversion in both Shapefile and DXF formats.
On-screen drawing
Finally, you can create models by on-screen drawing with the
mouse. These will be converted automatically into noise model
objects. See Chapter 5, Navigation and Editing. You can load a
map of the scheme as a bit-map and then trace over it to create
the model, see Working with Bitmaps, p 4:43
DXF DIGITAL DRAWING FILES
INTRODUCTION
NoiseMap can import digital drawing files in DXF version 12
format. The drawing units must be in metres.
DXF is a drawing exchange format used by many drawing
packages, such as AutoCAD. Many digital maps, including UK
Ordnance Survey Landline and Landform maps, can be obtained
in this format. DXF files contain the 2-D or 3-D co-ordinates of
each object in the drawing, so when loaded the drawing will
automatically appear at the correct co-ordinates.
Hint: Specifying DXF files for automatic conversion
For easiest automatic conversion of DXF files, you should request the following
specification: * DXF version 12 format; *Drawing units in metres; * Map uses
Ordnance Survey National Grid co-ordinates (i.e. objects are at their real world
position); * Each layer should only contain one type of object; * Ideally, objects
should be 3-dimensional (i.e. with height co-ordinates) though this is not
essential; * Objects should be ‘exploded’ and external references should be
resolved.
Because DXF is a general-purpose format, digital drawings can
be constructed in an infinite variety of ways. It is not possible to
guarantee that all digital maps can be read correctly by
NoiseMap. NoiseMap does not attempt to provide all the
features to be expected in a CAD package. You cannot edit or
re-export a DXF drawing, although you can export a NoiseMap
model as a DXF file.
Quite often, the digital map of a large scheme is subdivided to
produce a ‘layout’ which fits onto conventional paper sizes, often
within labelled drawing frames. NoiseMap will ignore such
layouts. They are not usually very helpful for noise modelling, as
the scheme is discontinuous and the separate strips are not in the
correct geographical relationship. Instead, the drawing will be
4:14
Creating Noise Models: DXF Digital Drawing Files
Creating Noise Models: DXF Digital Drawing Files
4:15
displayed as a map with the various elements in correct
geographical relationship.
Layers and automatic
conversion
A DXF drawing contains a large number of ‘entities’ which are
grouped into layers. It is preferable that each layer should only
contain one type of entity, for example, road centre lines should
be in one layer, kerb lines are in another layer and buildings are
in another. Labels are also in separate layers. If each layer of the
DXF drawing contains only one type of object, this will make it
much easier to use the automatic layer conversion system built
into NoiseMap.
Where DXF drawings contain a mix of different types of object,
NoiseMap is still able to semi-automatically convert some types
of entity into noise model objects. In order for entities to be
converted, they must be represented as ‘polylines’, ie short
sections of straight line joined into a continuous chain.
Where DXF drawings use other ways of representing objects,
such as arcs and elliptical shapes, instead of polylines, these
cannot be automatically converted by NoiseMap, but can be
entered manually by tracing over them with the mouse.
HEIGHT INFORMATION
The height dimension is particularly important when modelling
the spread of noise, but height information is often missing from
maps and drawings, whether in paper or digital format.
For example Ordnance Survey ‘Landline’ and ‘Mastermap’
drawings are only two-dimensional: all objects are effectively at
zero height. Ground contours are not provided: usually the only
height information is in the form of spot heights. These are in the
form of crosses in one layer of the drawing to mark the location,
and an associated height label in another layer of the drawing.
However, digital height data is now becoming available at
reasonable cost through the use of large-area ‘remote surveying’
techniques, which has greatly simplified this aspect of noise
modelling.
OS ‘Landform’ drawings contain three-dimensional ground
height information, and are available in two types: one with spot
heights and contours, and the other as a rectangular matrix of
heights.
Independent providers are now able to supply various types of
remotely-surveyed height datasets, which are usually used in
conjunction with 2D maps such as OS Landline, MasterMap or
specific scheme drawings, which provide the location of built
features.
NoiseMap contains a number of tools for adding separatelyobtained height information to two-dimensional maps, for
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example by ‘draping’ them over a grid (or array) of height values
(ground levels), described in the next section.
Some engineering design packages, such as MX (MOSS) and
AutoCAD can produce a full 3D line output and these can be
used by NoiseMap to produce the 3D model directly.
For more detail on obtaining and processing height information,
see our separate ‘How to’ guide.
AUTOMATIC HEIGHT
GENERATION
NoiseMap can generate heights automatically if 3D data is
present in the map being processed, or it can extract heights from
a separate dataset and add them to the objects being processed.
There are six options for obtaining heights, but you will only be
offered those options available from the data present:

from the DXF line itself (if it is three-dimensional): this is the
easiest and most accurate, when the model is in 3D (for
example output from a highway design package);

from OS ‘Landform’ (or other types) of ground height grid:
this is a straightforward and automatic way of adding height
data. The edges of features can be blurred by the horizontal
grid spacing and a plan map will be needed in order to see
the location of features. New digital datasets are available
with a close grid spacing that can give good resolution of
small features.

from selected DXF layers: if you have combined an OS
‘Landform’ ground contour map with the OS ‘Landline’ map
(using another CAD package), you only want to use the 3D
ground contours when getting heights: you indicate the
available layers in the DXF View Options screen;

from NoiseMap ground contours, perhaps previously
obtained by converting OS ‘Landform’ contour data;

from NoiseMap spot height chain (a chain of points you
create temporarily for obtaining heights), see p. 5:15;

entered manually in the object properties editing screen.
When you are putting in a new object, it may not be at ground
level. If you are getting the height from ground contours, then
you would need to add some height to the local ground level to
obtain the height of the object. For example, if you are entering a
barrier which is 3 m above ground level, enter 3 in the Add
Height box.
LOADING A DXF FILE
Before you can load a DXF file, you must have a scheme open,
or you must create a new scheme, as described elsewhere in this
manual.
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Creating Noise Models: Loading A DXF File
Creating Noise Models: Loading A DXF File
4:17
To load a digital map, select View, Load DXF File.
This will open the Select DXF File window. Navigate to the
file containing the DXF model (NB it must have the file type
DXF) and double-click or select Open.
NoiseMap will read the file and show the message:
Performing DXF pre-scan
During this process, it will look for entities in the drawing, and
decide which are likely to be features that you would wish to
convert into a NoiseMap model. It will make these features
selectable with the mouse. Sometimes, there may be several
separate large blocks in the drawing. If so, their names will be
displayed, and you will be asked which ones are to be imported.
The drawing will then be imported and it will appear centred on
the screen. The usual navigation controls can be used to pan and
zoom around the drawing. If you ‘lose’ the DXF model, you can
re-centre it on the screen by selecting View, Centre View Around
DXF.
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
Layer name
Description
Colour
G8010001
Building outline
Red
G8010004
Building outline (overhead)
Red
G8010014
Railway (narrow gauge)
Blue
G8010015
Railway (standard gauge)
Blue
G8010021
Road (public) edge of metalling
Blue
G8010025
Triangulation point
Blue
G8010026
Bench mark
Blue
G8010027
Spot height
Blue
G8010030
General detail, hedges, fences, walls
White
G8010032
General ground level or minor overhead detail
White
G8010033
Underground alignments, course of antiquities
Blue
G8010059
Water detail
Cyan
G8010098
Centreline public road
Yellow
G8010374
Top of slope
Red
G8010375
Top of cliff
Red
G8010376
Bottom of cliff or slope
Brown
G8010572
Grid lines
White
G8010575
Grid values
White
G8011000
Road names and numbers
Blue
G8011005
Administrative boundary text
Magenta
G8010006
Building names and numbers
Red
G8010009
Miscellaneous text
White
G8011010
Water feature text
Cyan
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OS Landline – Layer numbers (Selected)
CONTROLLING THE DETAIL IN THE DXF VIEW
To control the DXF view, select View, DXF
Options. This lets you control:

which layers of the drawing are displayed

their colour and display appearance.
Viewing
The list at the left-hand side of the box shows all the layers in the
drawing. OS maps use a series of codes for this, see table inset.
Other drawings may use different layer names. The box is
resizable to let you see longer names.
Each layer can be set to show objects in different colours:

Full colour -- objects are shown in the specified colour

Dark -- dull version of full colour

Grey - the objects are shown in a shade of grey. Greyed
objects cannot be selected with the mouse.

Off - the objects are not shown
DXF Viewing Options
4:18
Creating Noise Models: Controlling The Detail In The DXF View
Creating Noise Models: Controlling The Detail In The DXF View
Turning a layer to Dark can make a drawing easier to read by
fading out unimportant detail. Turning an object to off can
greatly increase the re-draw speed of large drawings.
You can change the setting by selecting the layer and clicking the
select colour button. You can save up to three settings for
future use by clicking on the down arrow and choosing a setting
number. However, these settings are not remembered when you
exit NoiseMap.
Changing layer colours
By default, layers will be shown in the colour defined by the
DXF file. You can change the colour of any layer by selecting it
and clicking Layer colour. This will show 16 pre-set Windows
colours. Choose one of the colours by pointing at it with the
mouse and clicking, and close the window by clicking OK. In
addition to the pre-set colours, it is possible to select any other
colour available on your graphics card. To do this, click on the
pre-set colour you wish to change, then click Edit. A selection of
a further 48 pre-set colours is shown. You can select one of these
or click on Define Custom Colours. A further screen opens,
showing the full palette available. Click at the point which has
the desired hue, then move the slider on the right hand side up
until the requisite luminance is achieved. Then click Add to
Custom Colours. You may then select the colour and click OK. It
will now be added to the colour choice in the layer colour picker
display. Select it and click OK to change the colour of the layer.
Auto height
If you have a 3D ground contour that you wish to be used in
generating the height of NoiseMap objects, indicate which layers
contain the height data by selecting the layer name and clicking
Auto Height. This will put an asterisk alongside the layer
name to show that entities in that layer can be used in auto
height calculations. Ensure that you do not select 2-D entities,
such as grid lines, as they will not have a valid height dimension.
Note that selecting a layer for auto-height calculation does not
cause heights to be calculated: you still have to choose to do a
height calculation during the DXF conversion process.
MODEL DISPLAY
Display dotted lines as
solid
Display dashed lines as
solid
Some lines in a DXF model may be dotted or dashed. This can
make them more difficult to see, especially if they are short, and
may make it more difficult to tell when they have been selected
in NoiseMap. Check these boxes to display them as solid lines.
Note that this only affects lines which have been entered as a
continuous line with a dotted/dashed display characteristic. It
will not join up lines which have been digitised with a break in
them.
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Selected Dark Objects are
bright
This can make it easier to see when a dark object has been
selected.
Auto-complete DXF chain
selection
Most entities are made up from several short lines joined in a
chain (a polyline in CAD parlance). This option causes the whole
chain to be selected when you click on any part of it. This is
usually the preferred option.
Hint: Joining DXF chains
A single entity in a DXF model may have been drawn with a number of
separate chains (polylines in CAD parlance). These chains often break across
adjacent map ‘tiles’. or for other reasons. You can join two adjacent chains into
a continuous chain by selecting them and clicking Edit, Join DXF chains.
This lets you auto-convert longer lengths of objects.
CONVERT DXF SELECTION
If your DXF file contains only one type of object in each layer
(e.g. one layer may contain roads only, another may contain
buildings only, and so on) then you may be able to convert all
the objects in the layer into NoiseMap objects in one operation.
In this case, see Automated Model Creation, page 4:26.
The Convert DXF Selection function will convert any selected
DXF entity into a NoiseMap object. An entity can be converted
into Contour lines, Outlines (buildings, water, other boundaries)
Roads, Barriers, hard/soft ground outlines or top/bottom of slope
lines. (NB Entities cannot be converted into receiver points).
The height of the object can be obtained from the DXF line itself
(if it is three-dimensional); from NoiseMap ground contours; or it
can be entered manually. The object may not be at ground level
and if you are getting the height from the DXF line or ground
contours, then you would need to add some height to the local
ground level to obtain the height of the object. For example, if
you are entering a barrier which is 3 m above ground level, enter
3 in the Add Height box.
NoiseMap will fit a series of straight lines to the selected DXF
entity, within tolerances set on the slider controls in the box. The
smaller the tolerance, the greater the number of lines needed to
fit the DXF entity. The number of DXF segments in the chain, and
the number of NoiseMap lines needed to fit them to the set
tolerance, is shown at the bottom of the screen.
The vertical tolerance will have no effect on 2-dimensional DXF
lines.
4:20
Creating Noise Models: Convert Dxf Selection
Creating Noise Models: Convert Dxf Selection
4:21
DXF Curve Fitting Dialogue
Offset from centre
This allows the NoiseMap line to be displaced or offset from the
line on which it is based. This is useful where there is no road
centre-line in the DXF model, and you have to base your
segments on the kerb line. It is also useful where you want to
enter a roadside barrier, but you are basing its alignment on the
road centre-line. Move the slider until the barrier or segment
appears in the correct position.
Width
This allows the width of the object to be adjusted to fit the map,
and saves you having to measure the width from the map. It
applies to segments and barriers.
Note that width applies to the whole width of a barrier.
However, it applies to one half of a dual carriageway, and also
one half of a single carriageway, so a carriageway width of 5 m
will appear 10 m wide on the plan. If the edges of the object line
up with the outline of the object in the DXF file, then the correct
width has been set.
Carriageway separation
This applies to all carriageways and is added to the width. It does
not apply to barriers.
Reverse flow
Road segments are entered in the same direction as the DXF line
on which they are based. During the fitting process, the direction
is shown by a series of arrows alongside the segment. For twoway flows, the direction of the segments is immaterial, but for
one-way flows, the direction of flow affects the gradient
correction, so this must be entered correctly. Click this box to
change the direction of the segment and traffic flow. Note:
NoiseMap assumes that for two-way flows, traffic drives on the
left.
Commit
This button converts the selected objects into NoiseMap objects.
The relevant dialogue box will now pop up, to show the objects
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you have just added. You can now add the extra details to the
objects, such as a descriptive name, category, traffic flows and
carriageway type. If you chose to get the height from the DXF
line or ground contours, this will have been done for you. If not,
you can now enter the heights manually or click on the Get
height button, to get the height from any of the methods listed
in the dialogue box.
SHAPEFILES
INTRODUCTION TO
SHAPEFILES
Shapefiles are a type of digital mapping system. They can
contain geographical and other information about any type of
map object, such as a road, a building, or a railway line – any
object that has a geographical location. Shapefiles were
originally designed for use by ESRI ArcView Geographical
Information Systems (GIS), but are now widely used for similar
applications.
Shapefiles can contain much more information about an object
than can be contained in a DXF file. For example, for a road
they could contain information about the road surface and the
traffic flow. NoiseMap allows you to load a Shapefile into
NoiseMap, which can then convert the shapefile into noise
model objects.
A shapefile contains at least two distinct parts. One of these
contains the geographical information, i.e. the co-ordinates of the
object, which can be two or three dimensional. The other part is
a database that contains additional information about the objects.
For example, if it is the shapefile of a road, the shapefile might
contain information on road width and traffic flows. There may
also be identifiers, such as a unique Topographical ID (TOID).
These are contained in the database part of the shapefile. The
database (.dbf) part of a shapefile can be opened in Excel (though
Microsoft have dropped this functionality in the latest versions.)
The database part of the shapefile can be thought of as a table
with a number of columns, each representing one type of
information, such as the width of the road, the traffic flow on the
road, or texture depth of the road surface. The information
contained in a shapefile is not standardised, but depends entirely
on the choices made by the person who created it. This means
you will need to select the pertinent information from the
shapefile and assign it to the correct NoiseMap objects. You will
need to find out from your GIS specialist what each column
name signifies. Some of the columns may not be required in the
noise model, and so these can be ignored. If you are converting
many shapefiles, this ‘profiling’ exercise can take some care and
time. To avoid having to do it each time you load a shapefile,
you can store a set of ‘profiles’ for future use, see 4:23.
NoiseMap also contains a standard set of profiles which
corresponds to the format used when you export shapefile data
4:22
Creating Noise Models: Shapefiles
Creating Noise Models: Shapefiles
4:23
from NoiseMap, as set out in Default shapefile format of this
manual. See also Export ShapeFiles, p 12:1.
LOADING A SHAPEFILE
For reasons connected with the database operation, before you
can load a shapefile, you must first load part of the scenario to
which the new objects will belong, or which will be the parent
scenario if you are creating a new scenario. (If you are creating a
completely new database, which currently contains no
information, then this requirement obviously does not apply.)
When you have opened the start scenario, to commence the
loading process select View, Load Shapefile. A Select
Shape File dialogue box will open and you can navigate to the
file containing the Shapefile you wish to load. Highlight the file
name and click Open.
SHAPEFILE PROFILE
(COLUMN MAPPINGS)
A Define Shapefile Usage dialogue box opens. This
allows you to choose which non-geographical parameters
(attributes) in the shapefile will be linked to which NoiseMap
objects, and which will be ignored.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Shapefile column mappings (profile)
Default Shapefile Profiles
(mappings)
NoiseMap has a default set of column names which are used
when a shapefile is exported from the system. If your shapefiles
use the same mappings, you can automatically assign these and
import the shapefile without assigning each column separately.
Select or load a profile to apply a stored set of column mappings
from the drop-down at the bottom of the window, or click Save
to store the current set of mappings for future use.
Column name
If you wish to provide your own column mappings, proceed as
follows. To the left of the window is a list of Column Names
contained in the selected shape file. You will need to find out
from the GIS specialists which parameter each column name
defines. Quite probably many of them will not be relevant to the
noise model.
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Creating Noise Models: Shapefiles
Creating Noise Models: Shapefiles
4:25
For each Column Name containing data that you want to transfer
to the noise model, proceed as follows.

Highlight the Column Name you wish to transfer to the noise
model

Select the Object Type that the shapefile should create

Select the Parameter of that object type that the selected
shapefile column contains.
The following table shows the parameters available for each
object type in the current version of the software. By default, all
columns are set to Ignore.
Object Type
Parameter
General Data
Ignore (doesn’t load the parameter)
Include (loads but does not use parameter)
Use as Layer (sorts data into layers according to
value of this parameter)
All object types
Height
Width
Editable object ID (User supplied ID)
Non-editable object ID (eg TOID)
Description (currently N/A)
Segments
Editable Traffic flow ID (user supplied ID)
Non-editable Traffic flow ID (eg TOID)
Flow Rate
Percent Heavy
Speed
Category
Barriers
FOA (currently N/A)
Contours
Ground type (currently N/A)
Receivers
Receiver type (currently N/A)
Assume each row is
unique
You should tick this box whenever the parameter you are
importing is different for each item of the input data. This will
usually apply to the unique (non-editable) IDs, such as the
TOIDS and traffic flow IDs. When you tick this box, the data will
not be searched for duplicate values, thus speeding up the
loading process.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Example shapefile set-up
The following table shows how a typical shapefile might be
converted
Column name
Column description
Object type
Parameter
OD
Oscar ID
All objects
Non-editable ID (Unique)
LAE-ID
London Atmospheric
Emissions Inventory ID
Segments
Non-editable flow ID
(Unique)
Flow factor
Factor to convert from
LAEI to actual flow
General
Ignore (not needed in
noise model)
Category
Road category
Segments
Category
Speeds
Traffic speed
Segments
Speed
Heavy Percent
Percentage of heavy
vehicles in flow
Segments
Percent Heavy
Total Flow
18-hour flow
Segments
Flow Rate
Width
Carriageway width
All objects
Width
Editable and non-editable
IDs
ID values can be important in data management to identify items
of information and to act as a link when information is used in
different contexts. NoiseMap allows data items to have usereditable IDs, which the user can assign, and non-editable IDs
which have usually been generated by some external source.
Non-editable IDs cannot be changed by the NoiseMap user,
since this would destroy the original external linkages. You
should import externally-generated ID numbers as non-editable
values so that the user cannot inadvertently alter them.
Usually, externally-generated ID numbers of objects will be
unique (eg a building or road segment TOID, or a flow ID). In
such cases, you should tick the check-box so that the import
process does not spend unnecessary time trying to classify them.
AUTOMATED MODEL CREATION
Once a Shapefile or DXF file has been loaded, it will be
displayed on the screen, but at this point it is still a digital
drawing: it has not yet been converted into NoiseMap objects,
and so cannot yet be saved to the database.
Size of area that can be
converted
You should be aware that Shapefiles and DXF files can contain
hundreds of thousands of objects and which when converted
into NoiseMap objects could generate at least the same number
of new objects. It is possible for the software to crash if the
computer runs out of memory to allocate to the software. This
4:26
Creating Noise Models: Automated Model Creation
Creating Noise Models: Automated Model Creation
4:27
could leave the database in an unstable state, which will need to
be corrected by the database administrator.
For this reason, it is not recommended to try to push the software
to the limit (by loading DXF files that are hundreds of megabytes
in size, for example). In dense urban areas, we would suggest
that buildings should be converted in blocks of not more than 25
square kilometres.
Further considerations in relation to
conversion of buildings are given in a later section of this
manual. For roads and ground contours, the blocks should be of
a size such that there are no more than around 50,000 objects
when converted into a NoiseMap model. It should be noted that
the number of objects will depend on the conversion tolerance –
a smaller tolerance will result in more objects and if you set the
tolerance to zero, you could end up with hundreds of thousands
of objects.
Converting a layer
You must now use View, Convert Layer, to transform the
shapefile into NoiseMap objects.
Select the type of object you want to convert the layer into. You
have the choice of:

Contour line

Road Segments

Rail Tracks

Site Workings

Noise Barriers

Receiver points

Outline (buildings, water, etc)

Top/bottom of slope

Hard/soft Ground
Then click Next. The next dialogue box will depend on the type
of object into which you are converting the layer.
ROADS
Roads require a large number of parameters to be set. A
shapefile might contain many of the required parameters, but
DXF files cannot supply them. Where parameters are missing,
their values will be taken from the ‘Convert Layer Defaults’ [see
page 4:30]. To reduce the amount of post-conversion editing,
ensure these are set to appropriate values.
You will also need to set the conversion tolerance and how the
segment heights are to be obtained. These are described in the
following sections of this chapter.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
You can also specify how the road width is to be imported
[Shapefiles only], since NoiseMap requires the width of the oneway flow direction to be given.
Finally, you will need to state which of the layers are to be
converted.
TRACKS, WORKINGS,
BARRIERS, RECEIVERS
You must provide the conversion tolerance and state where the
heights are to be obtained. The options are described in the
following sections of this chapter. There is no provision for
setting defaults for other track or workings parameters.
OUTLINE
If you choose Outline, you will now be asked to select the
Outline Style. The options are:

Building

Water

Area Boundary

Address Point

Line type 1, 2 and 3

Annotation 1, 2 and 3
Split at tile boundaries
Check the tick-box if you wish objects to be split at tile
boundaries. You will not normally wish buildings to be split at
tile boundaries, since when you import the building into the
model, you normally want to see all of it. However, items like
rivers will normally have to be split at tile boundaries, as
otherwise NoiseMap will import the whole object whenever it
imports a tile that contains a part of it.
Smallest area
Enter the value for the smallest area to be imported. For
buildings, you may consider that buildings with a ground area of
less than 20 square metres (typically sheds and garages) are
unlikely to be acoustically significant, so you would enter this
value.
For water bodies, you may wish to choose a larger area.
Automatically generate
height
NoiseMap will automatically assign a height to the objects that it
converts. Depending on what height data is available, you may
choose to obtain the height from the existing ground model, if
you have already put one into NoiseMap. If the object is not at
ground level (eg if it is a building outline) you may wish to add a
certain amount to the ground level height (eg a building may be
8 m above ground level. If the layer information is three4:28
Creating Noise Models: Automated Model Creation
Creating Noise Models: Automated Model Creation
4:29
dimensional, you may wish obtain the height data from the layer
– and again you can choose to add an amount to the base height.
HARD/SOFT GROUND
OUTLINES
This is a conversion ‘wizard’ that tries to convert very complex
outlines into hard or soft ground outlines. For example, the
‘man-made ground’ layer in OS mapping is likely to be hard
ground, and can appear to be what is let over when other
mapping features have been removed. The default values
supplied can work well. For further information on this feature,
please contact NoiseMap Ltd.
TOP/BOTTOM OF SLOPE
This converts non-level ground profiles into a NoiseMap ground
model objects.
CONVERSION TOLERANCE
When NoiseMap converts a shapefile or DXF polyline into a
NoiseMap object, you can control the closeness of fit (tolerance)
between the shapefile or DXF lines and NoiseMap object lines.
This reduces the number of NoiseMap objects needed to
represent the original mapping whilst maintaining an acceptable
precision. The acceptable precision varies between object types.
For example, road segments usually demand a closer fit than
ground contours.
An excessive amount of data will not improve the calculation
accuracy, but can greatly reduce calculation speed, so an
appropriate conversion tolerance is desirable.
Horizontal and vertical
tolerance control
There are slider controls that allow you to set the tolerance of the
conversion:

Horizontal tolerance

Vertical tolerance
Road segments
Typical conversion tolerances for road segments might be 1 m
horizontally and 0.5 m vertically.
Ground contours
Remote surveying techniques such as Lidar are revolutionising
the gathering of topographical data, which is now sometimes
being provided at 25 cm vertical interval, compared with the 5 m
vertical interval available from historic Ordnance Survey
levelling data. However, noise models require information on
the location of the cut/fill lines that mark the edges of features
such as embankments and cuttings rather than level contours
which tend to run diagonally across such features. Although
NoiseMap will accept such level contours, they are wasteful of
processing time. Noise modellers are advised to request the
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
cut/fill ‘profile’ lines to be provided by the surveyors, and to
enter these into NoiseMap.
Where it is desired to convert level contours, then normally a
5 m horizontal tolerance is acceptable. The vertical tolerance
will have no effect for horizontal contours, but it is advised to
leave this at 0.5 m, as a zero tolerance can cause problems.
Building outlines
The conversion tolerance controls are ignored when converting
building outlines, as these are stored to full precision.
AUTOMATICALLY
GENERATE HEIGHT
This control gives you the following options:

RoadNoise Ground Model

DXF (ie Shapefile) Line

Define as height above local
When you have a NoiseMap ground model loaded, then as the
objects are converted, the ground model is queried to find the
local ground level at each point. You can add an amount to this,
to obtain the height of the object if this is not at ground level.
For example, if all buildings are 8 m above ground level, then set
the amount to be added to local ground height in the box
labelled: Additional height to add.
If you choose to obtain the height directly from the Shapefile,
any additional height you request will still be added.
If you choose to define the height above local, then the local
ground level is not ascertained. Instead, the height above
ground will be taken from the Additional height to add box.
The Convert Layer dialogue box lists the layers imported from
the Shapefile (there will only be a single layer unless the
Shapefile contained a parameter to distinguish between different
types of object).
It is possible that the imported Shapefile will not contain all the
parameters needed to define an object. In this case, default
values will be provided. The default values can be adjusted by
the user, as described in the following section.
EDIT CONVERT LAYER DEFAULTS
This dialogue box defines the values to be used for certain
parameters when importing them from a shapefile layer using the
‘Convert Layer’ method. If any of the values are not defined by
the shapefile, then the default value will be used instead. The
parameters than can be defined and their pre-set defaults are
shown below. You can change these as required prior to
4:30
Creating Noise Models: Edit Convert Layer Defaults
Creating Noise Models: Segment Tools
4:31
running the Convert Layer procedure, using the Edit, Edit
Convert Layer Defaults dialogue.

Flow Rate
1000

Flow Speed
100.0

Flow PHV
15.0

Traffic basis
Not gradient corrected

Local height
0.0

Flow multiplier
1.0

Segment width
5.0

Segment Category
1

Surface type
Bitumen

Depth/Correction
2.0

Road type
Non-motorway

Carriageway
Normal 2-way road

Horizontal separation
0.0

Vertical separation
0.0

Ground type
Hard
SEGMENT TOOLS
You may need to undertake some editing work on segments that
you have imported from a DXF or Shapefile. The Edit,
Segment tools function provides some useful tools to help:

Set local height

Set retained cut

Reverse segment chain

Delete contours from segments
SET LOCAL HEIGHT
This is used when importing a DXF. It lets you choose a layer
that contains the height of the top of any flyover, and it then sets
the height above ground of the relevant segments. By choosing
the option: Do you want to recalculate segments with values
already set? – you can recalculate height data for all segments.
SET RETAINED CUT
Enables you to enter the retained cut values for a segment.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
REVERSE SEGMENT CHAIN
(SHORTCUT CTRL-X)
This reverses the direction of selected chain of segments. Use for
one-way roads and roundabouts.
DELETE CONTOURS FROM
SEGMENTS
Removes any ground height contours that cross a road segment
HARD GROUND OUTLINES
NoiseMap contains special tools to allow complex areas of hard
ground to be simplified. These tools let NoiseMap find and
extract acoustically significant areas from a shapefile such as the
OS ‘man-made ground’ layer. Please contact NoiseMap Ltd for
guidance on these tools if you are contemplating their use.
ADDING BUILDING OUTLINES
Building outlines have two functions in NoiseMap:

To act as noise barriers in calculations

Improve the visual appearance of a noise map by shading the
building areas.
Other types of outlines
Several other types of Outline are available in NoiseMap and
these are described below under ‘Marking out and annotating
noise models’.
Automatic creation of
building outlines
An automatic algorithm will attempt to convert all objects in a
specified map layer into building outlines. Because of the way
that digital maps are drawn, and because of the complex outline
of many buildings, the algorithm may not find every building
outline, in which case it will be necessary to complete the
missing areas using one of the manual methods provided.
However, if Ordnance Survey Mastermap is used, conversion
should normally be 100 % successful.
To use the automatic method, firstly load up the digital maps
(DXF or ESRI Shapefile format) that you wish to convert and
check which layers contain the building outlines that you are
going to convert. The map needs to have each object type in a
different layer. The system will convert objects from any number
of different layers, although OS maps generally have building
ground level details in layer G8010001 and overhead building
details in layer G8010004.
From the View menu, select Convert Layer
In the Layer Conversion dialogue box, under Object to
convert into choose Building
4:32
Creating Noise Models: Adding Building Outlines
Creating Noise Models: Adding Building Outlines
4:33
If the buildings are to be used in as barriers in noise calculations,
they will need a height, so check Automatically generate
height and in the drop-down list, choose where the base height
data should be obtained. Add the height above base in the
Additional height to be added box. Then click Next.
You will now see a dialogue Layer to Convert that displays
a list of layers in the DXF file. Highlight all the layers to be
converted and click OK.
The automated process will find as many buildings as it can.
These will be shown by a pale blue outline, but it may be clearer
to see what has been done by filling the outlines. Go to View,
Display options and under Building Outlines select
Solid. Any building outlines that remain unconverted must be
completed by hand, using the following procedure.
Manual conversion
Building outlines shown on DXF maps can be manually
converted into NoiseMap building outlines, using the ‘Select’
method, or they can be entered completely manually by tracing
over the map outlines with the mouse. These are described in
the following sections.
SELECT METHOD OF
ADDING BUILDING
OUTLINES
Click the Add Elements button and click ‘Select method
building outline’
Select ‘Automatically generate height’ and choose where
NoiseMap is to obtain the base height data in ‘Get height
information from’. Also enter the additional height to be added
to the base to get the height of the building. Click OK. To create
a building outline:
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual

Point mouse at a building outline, and click to select it. It
will become bold.

Press Insert key. The outline will turn pale blue and a box
will show the starting point of the outline, and an arrow will
show the end. If it goes in the wrong direction, press Home
to reverse the direction.

Click on the next section of the outline. At a T-junction, it is
possible that the line takes the wrong direction. Press Home
to reverse the direction.

If there is a gap between the end of the last line and the start
of the next, the outline will cross the gap.

Work around the outline, and when you back to the
beginning, press End to close the outline and to finish it.
You may now start on the next outline.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Manual method of
building outlines
In some very complex urban areas, it might prove simpler to
enter the outlines manually by selecting ‘Building Outline’ from
the Add Elements dialogue box and simply tracing around the
building blocks with the mouse.
MARKING OUT AND ANNOTATING NOISE MODELS
An example of Annotation:
Kerb lines - Line Type 1; Break lines - Line Type 2; Building descriptors - Annotation 1; Building numbers Annotation 1; Street Names - Annotation 2; Area names - Annotation 3. All these were obtained automatically from
Shape Files. Note also the AddressPoints – shown as red crosses within each building.
NoiseMap contains several types of outline in addition to
Building Outlines, which can be used for marking out and
annotating noise models:

Building

Water

Area Boundary

Address Point

Line type 1, 2 and 3

Annotation 1, 2 and 3
Buildings are a special type of outline as described above.
Water outlines appear as a turquoise area but are only used to
mask the noise contours. They are not treated as hard ground
outlines.
Area Boundaries appear as a pink area but are only used to mask
the noise contours. They are useful when you wish to mask
4:34
Creating Noise Models: Marking Out And Annotating Noise Models
Creating Noise Models: Marking Out And Annotating Noise Models
noise contours that extend beyond the study area. They are not
treated as ground or building outlines.
Address Point is a feature of the UK Post Code system. A special
database is available under licence (not from NoiseMap) which
has the full address of most occupiable buildings in the UK. It is
a database of points defined by their OS National Grid Coordinates and provides the address of each building. This can be
used to assign addresses when you generate receivers
automatically around building outlines, see p. 11:8.
Three Line Types are available. They can be used for drawing
any sort of line on the noise map, which can then be labelled.
Uses might include:

Kerb lines

Break lines between sheets
Each line type can be separately displayed or hidden. Each line
can have a label, and the label of each line type can be displayed
or hidden. The line types also differ in that line type 1 has a
small font, line type 2 has a medium font, and line type 3 has a
large font. The line thicknesses are the same.
Three types of Annotation are available. These can be used to
add descriptions to a noise model, e.g.:

Street and District Names (can be automatically generated
from a suitable shape file)

Information notes
Each annotation type can be separately displayed or hidden. The
labels differ in size: Annotation 1 has a small font, Annotation 2
has a medium font, and Annotation 3 has a large font.
ADDING AREAS AND
ANNOTATION MANUALLY
To add an area, line or annotation manually, click the Add [+]
button on the toolbar and select Outline as the object to add.
Click around the outline, or if an annotation, click and drag a
line of the appropriate length and right-click to terminate. Enter
the required text in the Identifier box and then select the outline
type from the drop-down list.
DISPLAYING THE AREA OR
ANNOTATION LABELS
In order to display any of the above Outline types, go to
View>Display Options and ensure that the On button is
selected. Then click the Outline Types button and select all the
outlines you wish to display. To show the labels, click the Labels
tab, and ensure that the Outline Labels and Ident String boxes are
checked. Then click the Outline Types button and check the
boxes of the outline types that you want labelled.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
CALCULATION PARAMETERS
Noise calculations depend on certain parameters that are set
from the Parameter, Edit Calculation Parameter
menu.
The parameters are split into sections according to whether they
affect all calculations, or whether they apply only to certain types
of calculation.
The calculation method is no longer set in this menu. Instead it
is selected as part of the calculation set-up procedure, see
Calculation Method in the Index.
Calculation parameters
GENERAL CALCULATION
PARAMETERS
This section allows you to set:
4:36

COA – Cut-off angle. This is the smallest angle that a
segment-type object may subtend at the calculation point in
order to be considered.

COD – Cut-off distance. This is the furthest [usually
perpendicular] distance between an object and the
calculation point in order to be considered.

COR – Cut-off for reflections. This is the greatest distance
that a reflecting surface may be on the far side of the source
in order for reflection to be considered.
Creating Noise Models: Calculation Parameters
Creating Noise Models: Calculation Parameters
4:37

Calculation precision: This sets the rounding method used in
calculation. CRTN and CRN define stages at which results
are to be rounded to the nearest 0.1 dB (in the direction that
gives the higher noise level). This rounding ensures that
rounding uncertainties are in the favour of a point being
considered for statutory noise insulation, and is a
requirement of the procedures. However, it causes
irregularities in noise contours, which have a better
appearance if they are calculated to ‘full precision’.
NoiseMap undertakes noise calculations to 32-bit accuracy in
most cases, which has a precision of about 7 decimal figures.
Some geographical calculations are made to 64-bit accuracy
(15 decimal figures) owing to the wide range of possible
values of co-ordinates.

Maximum effective barriers: the maximum number of barrier
segments used when assessing the screening of a source
segment.
CRTN ROAD
CALCULATIONS
Leq (NAC) Time Period
This parameter is used to define the time period represented
by the traffic data when undertaking Leq calculations
according to the Noise Advisory Council (NAC). It may be
any reasonable value.
(For L10 calculations, CRTN only defines 1-hour and 18-hour
periods: it is not necessary to set TIM for this, as the time
period is set with the traffic flow data.)
Compatibility with earlier
versions
Set compatibility with v 8.06 – use only when required for
compatibility with historic calculations.
(Note: the option to set height calculations to be compatible with
NoiseMap 2.51 or before is now set from Parameters,
Program Options.)
DMRB 2008
Implements additional procedures advised in DMRB 2008.
BS5228 SITENOISE
CALCULATIONS
The following calculation options are set here:

Soft Ground Correction

Barrier Attenuation

Haul Road Correction

Distance corrections
See SiteNoise 98 manual for full guidance.
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STORING THE
CALCULATION
PARAMETERS
You should note that calculations being done either locally or
from the calculation queue normally use the values of the
Calculation Parameters that are stored in the database. This is to
ensure that the results will be consistent whatever the setup of
individual computers.
Save to database
When you are sure that you have set the calculation parameters
correctly, you can save the values in the database by clicking this
button. You should use this with care, as it will affect all
calculations being done by yourself and others.
Set for session
Clicking this button will save any changes you have made to the
calculation parameters to you local machine for this calculation
session only. This allows you to test alternative calculation
settings without affecting any calculations being done by other
machines. When you quit and restart the session, any ‘set for
session’ settings will be discarded and the database settings will
be downloaded for use in any calculations.
CATEGORIES AND COMBINATIONS
It is a common requirement to determine how much noise the
various parts of a scheme are making to the total noise at a
receiver or grid point. NoiseMap allows you to assign each road
segment, railway track segment and site activity to one of up to
100 user-defined categories of noise source. These could be
major roads and minor roads, unaltered and new roads, roads
with more than a certain traffic volume, mainline and branch line
railway tracks, mobile and static site activities, or any other
distinguishing feature.
You should assign each segment, activity or train service to a
category. NoiseMap will then show the noise produced by any
combination of categories. These calculations are made when
the contours or receiver calculations are first made, and it is the
results of these category combinations that are stored in the
database. It is therefore crucial that you to set up the categories
and combinations before running any calculations.
Setting up categories
The following example assumes you are setting up three
categories, representing unaltered, altered and new activities.
These could be new segments of road, new segments of railway
track or new site activities.
To set up the categories, select Parameters, Edit
Categories from the main menu. You will note that category 1
is already present. You need to add nodes (categories) 2 and 3.
Click Add Node to do this.
4:38
Creating Noise Models: Categories And Combinations
Creating Noise Models: Categories And Combinations
4:39
Creating category
combinations
Now you need to add names to the category combinations. Click
Add Combo. In the title box in the centre of the screen, the
name New Combination appears. Change this to Unaltered and
click Update. Now click Add Combo again, and change the
title to Unaltered + Altered, and click Update.
Now the names are in, you need to assign the correct categories
to each combination. By convention, NoiseMap usually assigns
categories as follows:

Category 1 - Unaltered

Category 2 - Altered

Category 3 - New
The first combination All only has category 1 assigned at present.
You also need to add 2 and 3. Select the Category combination
All at the top of the screen, then in All categories highlight
2 and 3, and click the Add button. Next select Unaltered +
Altered at the top of the screen, in All Categories highlight 2 and
click Add.
As a check, when you click the Category combination All, this
should show Selected Categories 1, 2 and 3; when you click on
Unaltered, this should show Selected Category 1; and when you
click on Unaltered +Altered, this should show Selected
Categories 1 and 2.
You are limited to 100 Categories (nodes) and 100 category
combinations: you can use all 100 categories in any category
combination.
Category parameters
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Assigning categories to
segments
When the category combinations have been created, the noise
sources need to be put into the correct categories. Return to the
graphical screen. For roads, select a segment and then select
Edit, Complete chain selection from the main menu.
The chain of segments will be selected. Now click the editing
button on the toolbar and in the segment properties screen, click
the drop-down categories list and choose the appropriate
category from the list. Repeat this process for all segments. An
equivalent procedure is used for Rail and Site noise sources,
described in relevant section of this manual.
EDIT BARRIER ADJUSTMENTS
When undertaking design work, you may wish to optimise the
height of the noise barriers in your scheme. NoiseMap provides
a way of making quick adjustments to a range of barriers in order
to test the effectiveness of various barrier arrangements.
Firstly, you should assign the barriers that you are designing to
one or more of the ten available barrier adjustment layers. You
do this by selecting the barrier and then in the barrier properties
dialog box, you select which one or more layers are to be active
for this barrier. Now select Parameters, Edit barrier
adjustments and for each of the adjustment levels, set the
amount of height adjustment to be applied to all barriers
assigned to that level.
There are 10 level adjustment layers available, and you could
give each adjustment layer a different amount of adjustment. For
example, you could set the Level 1 adjustment to be 1 m, Level 2
to be 2 m, Level 3 to be 2.5 m, and so on.
The adjustment levels apply to all tiles in all scenarios, but you
can assign a barrier to one or more different adjustment layers in
each scenario.
The height adjustment is only applied at calculation time: it is not
permanently added to the barrier. For this reason, it is
recommended that once you have decided on a barrier
arrangement for a particular scenario, you should permanently
update the barriers to the required height. This will ensure that
any subsequent changes to the height adjustments will not affect
the scenarios that you have already calculated.
PROGRAM OPTIONS
This allows you to control certain program behaviours which are
not associated with noise calculations.
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Creating Noise Models: Program Options
Creating Noise Models: Program Options
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Program options
GENERAL OPTIONS
Shapefile mapping path
Shapefile mapping profiles tell NoiseMap which columns in the
shapefile are to be mapped to which NoiseMap parameters. You
can enter a file path here for NoiseMap to search for the
appropriate mapping. For more information, see Shapefile
Profile (column mappings), page 4:23.
External text editor
This allows you to select a text editor for use when editing script
files. Enter the full path name. See help on Script Interface for
more details.
Text editor command line
The command line will be fed to the script file text editor and
allows it to open the correct file at the chosen line. The variable
%1 will contain the filename of the script file and the variable
%2 will contain the line number that you have clicked on.
Automatic update checking
This offers you the option for NoiseMap to check automatically
for program updates. For this to work, you must be connected to
the internet. If there is an update to your version of NoiseMap
and you have current maintenance, you will be offered the
opportunity to download the update.
Update check period
This sets the frequency with which NoiseMap checks for updates
and is set to 7 days by default, which means that you will receive
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the update within 7 days of its release. A repeat of 0 will check
on every start-up and a repeat of 1 will check every day.
MODEL EDITING
Editing options
This allows you to activate two editing options:

Automatically apply object property edits on selection
change – this will apply any changes that you make to an
object’s properties as soon as you select another object,
without asking or warning you first. This can be convenient,
but you need to be careful not to make changes
inadvertently;

Display position information when adding objects – position
information helps with precise positioning of objects, but the
information window can be intrusive on crowded models.
Ground model sample
points
When getting the height of an object from the ground model,
NoiseMap uses the closest ground contours along the specified
number of vectors spaced equally around the point of interest. If
you specify four vectors, these would be north, south, east and
west. Increasing the number of search vectors will increase the
sampling accuracy particularly when there are few ground
contours, but if you have a large number of ground contours, it
may be desirable to reduce the number of search vectors.
The default value of 16 vectors seems to give reasonable
accuracy for a wide range of models. However, when the model
has a high density of contours, reasonable accuracy can be
obtained with a reduced number of search vectors (12 or even
8), keeping the search time reasonable.
MODEL LOADING
Outlines
This tab lets you control how building outlines are downloaded
from the database. You have three options:

Always load outlines

Never load outlines

Prompt to load outlines if above threshold
Outline threshold
If you have chosen the last of the above options, you will need to
set the threshold for the number of outlines that can be
downloaded without asking for your approval. Enter your
desired threshold (set to 3000 by default).
Traffic Flows
Choose from the drop-down options:
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Creating Noise Models: Program Options
Creating Noise Models: Working With Bitmaps
4:43

Only load flows assigned to roads – this is quicker for large
models, but flows not assigned to roads will not appear in the
traffic flow list;

Load all traffic flows in model – this increases download
time, but ensures that unassigned flows appear in the traffic
flow list.
TOID strings
Choose from the drop-down list:

Load TOID strings from database – the TOIDS are long
character strings that can greatly add to the download time.

Do not load TOID strings – generally, you do not need the
TOIDs, so if you do not download them, calculation times
will be reduced.
Model check
This gives an option to check the model for duplicated objects
and other problems every time a scenario is loaded, but this may
be unnecessary on well-established model and may take time.
You can check later by selecting Check Loaded Model from
the Calculate menu.
POPUPS AND MESSAGES
NoiseMap has a number of information messages that can
provide useful information, but experienced users may find them
intrusive. Here, they can be disabled (or re-enabled) by unchecking or checking the boxes.

Show NoiseMap information message on start-up.

Show information message when starting a cross-section

Show information message when starting measure tool
WORKING WITH BITMAPS
NoiseMap supports two types of digital image:

Vector images - e.g. DXF files which are made up of lines
drawn between points: this is an efficient method of creating
detailed maps capable of high resolution on a wide range of
devices; amenable to automatic processing, but often labourintensive to create.

Bitmap images - made up of dots: easy to create on a scanner
or to capture from a screen image, but memory-hungry at
high resolutions and less amenable to automatic processing.
Bitmaps provide a good base for superimposing results and for
creation of NoiseMap models, provided the physical size of the
base-map is not too large: generally, up to A3 in size.
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SCANNING BITMAPS
If you will be using the bitmap for trace-digitising to create a
NoiseMap model, it should be scanned in a low-resolution (70100 dpi) 16-colour or true-colour Windows bitmap format (not
JPEG, TIF or other picture format). For a printed presentation, you
may need a higher resolution, but only when your work is
complete. High-resolution maps which cover a large area require
a considerable amount of memory and may be slow to process. If
the scanned image needs to be scaled, cropped or rotated, you
should do this before loading, as this is not possible within
NoiseMap, except for choosing the area to be plotted. Windows
Paint accessory can be used to convert high-resolution scans to
low resolution. By judicious choice of resolution, you should
usually be able to get a satisfactory bitmap in less than 100
kbytes of memory.
Unless you have a pre-calibrated bitmap (see below), you will
need to know the exact co-ordinates of two calibration points on
the bitmap on the same Y-co-ordinate (northing) but different Xco-ordinates (eastings) so that NoiseMap can create the model at
the right scale. One way of doing this is to capture a bitmap that
already has a co-ordinate grid drawn on it. Alternatively, you
could identify the co-ordinates of two points on a scaled map
that are also visible on the bitmap.
LOADING A BITMAP
Before you can load the bitmap, you must have a scheme
loaded. You should choose initial display co-ordinates
approximating to the area of the bitmap image, otherwise you
may not be able to see the bitmap once it is loaded, until you
have scrolled it into the view (see Centre View, below). To load
the image into NoiseMap, click View, Load Bitmap. In the
Files of type drop-down, you can select:

bmp – an uncalibrated bitmap that you will need to calibrate;
or

rnb – a bitmap that you have already calibrated in
NoiseMap.
Choose the appropriate type and then navigate to the bitmap file.
WORLD FILES
Some GIS and digital drawing systems can export a bitmap along
with a ‘World File’ which contains the bit-map calibration (georeferencing) data. These form a pair of files, a .bmp file and a
.bpw file. If NoiseMap finds a .bpw file in the same folder
when loading a .bmp bit-map file, you will be asked if you wish
to use the .bpw file instead of manual calibration. If you choose
to do so, then the bitmap will use the .bpw calibration data.
BITMAP CALIBRATION
When you have loaded an uncalibrated bitmap, the Bitmap
Calibration window will open. Using the Cursor, Page Up and
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Creating Noise Models: Working With Bitmaps
Creating Noise Models: Working With Bitmaps
4:45
Page Down keys, find the first calibration point that you have
chosen. Use a large zoom to ensure that you can position the
mouse cross-hairs accurately, and click. Enter the co-ordinates of
the point. Now move the bitmap to show the second calibration
point, click on it and enter its co-ordinates. Then select
Calibrate, Exit to return to the graphical screen. Prompts are
shown in the status bar to help you.
If the bitmap needs to be refreshed while calibrating, pick View
Mode, Reset from the menu. This menu also lets you switch to
Zoom mode to make it easier to choose the calibration points.
Remember to switch back to Pick mode before entering a
calibration point.
SAVING CALIBRATED
BITMAPS
You can save the calibrated bitmap as a special rnb file, which
can be reloaded from the Load Bitmap menu without recalibration (by selecting files of type rnb). When you save your
NoiseMap model, this will also record information on any
calibrated bitmap file currently loaded so that it can be re-loaded
next time you open the model.
LOCATING THE BITMAP
If you lose the bitmap, firstly check that it is loaded and switched
on (the bitmap toolbar button should be bright). Then select
View, Centre view around bitmap. This puts the bitmap
into the centre of the view.
MOVING AROUND THE
BITMAP
In the graphical screen, the orientation of the bitmap is fixed. The
model grid will be shifted to fit it. However, you can pan and
zoom using the normal toolbar or keyboard functions.
TURNING THE BITMAP ON
AND OFF
You can turn the map off when it is not needed, by clicking the
Picture tool-bar button. This can speed up navigation of very
large bitmaps. If you want a bitmap to be saved when you save
the model, ensure that it is turned on.
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Navigation And Editing: Basic Operation
5:1
5. NAVIGATION AND EDITING
BASIC OPERATION
NoiseMap has two windows, the Graphical Window, where the
model appears as a diagrammatic representation, and the Output
Window, where a log of the operations is shown, the model
parameters can be displayed and the results of calculations can
be displayed.
You work in the Graphical window when creating and editing
models and showing noise contours. Where individual receivers
are used, they can be labelled with calculated noise levels in the
Graphical window.
The Output window helps you to keep track of your work and
reports warnings and errors. It is advisable to check the Output
Window whenever there seems to be an operational problem.
For details see Chapter 16 The results output window and
Chapter 17 NoiseMap Script Interface.
The status bar will show buttons for the two views as one way of
switching between them. Alternatively, select View, Results
Window from the menu bar.
THE GRAPHICAL WINDOW
You will work in the Graphical window when creating and
editing models, and in the Output window when undertaking
calculations.
Graphical Modes
The Graphical window can be in one of six modes, shown by
which toolbar button is selected. Modes affect the mouse action
as follows:
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
Select mode - the mouse can be used to select an object

Move mode - the mouse will move the selected object

Pan mode - the mouse will move the view of the model

Zoom mode - the mouse changes the size of the view

Rotate mode - the mouse rotates the view

Add mode – adds geographical objects to model using
mouse
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The status bar
The status bar at the foot of the Graphical window presents
various items of information relating to movement of the mouse.

In Select mode, it usually shows the co-ordinates of the
mouse cursor, the angle of rotation of the model and the Tile
ID.

In Move mode, it will show the amount by which an object
has been shifted.

In Add mode, it prompts some user actions.

When a noise contour is displayed, it shows the noise level
at the cursor position.
The graphical model
The graphical window shows a plan view of the model. The
source segments are shown as white rectangles with the centreline marked. Ground contours and ground profiles are shown in
green. Ground profiles are similar to contours, but usually
delineate some ground feature such as the top or bottom of an
embankment. This means that, unlike contours, they may vary in
height along their length.
Barriers are shown in red. They can be purpose-built noise
fences, or any object which may screen noise, such as a row of
buildings. Barriers which have gaps in them (such as a row of
semi-detached houses) are shown with a dotted line. The spacing
of the dots is indicative of the fractional open area of the barrier.
Receiver points are locations where NoiseMap will calculate
noise levels. They are often placed close to a building façade, in
which case the direction of view is important. They are
represented with a T or a V. The long stem of the T, and the open
arms of the V, point in the direction in which the receiver is
facing. If a receiver has a 360 ° unobstructed view (called freefield) then it is shown with a + symbol.
In most cases, the ground is predominately soft (noise-absorbent),
but there may be areas of acoustically hard ground (this can be
hard paving or other reflective surfaces, such as water). These
can be outlined in the model, and appear in blue on the
graphical display.
You can display the map reference grid by clicking this button.
NAVIGATION
There are several ways to move the view around the Graphical
window. This is called Navigation.
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Navigation And Editing: Navigation
Navigation And Editing: Navigation
5:3
WITH MOUSE WHEEL
Panning and scrolling
Rotate the mouse wheel up and down to move the map
vertically. Press the left mouse button or Shift key and rotate the
mouse wheel to move the map horizontally.
Zooming
Press the right mouse button or Ctrl key and rotate the mouse
wheel up and down to zoom the display in and out (i.e. make it
larger or smaller).
WITH CURSOR KEYS
Panning and scrolling
You can pan and scroll using the four cursor keys on the
keyboard.
Zooming
You can zoom the picture using the keyboard:

PgUp (the page up key) makes the picture larger

PgDn (the page down key) makes the picture smaller
WITH TOOLBAR BUTTONS
Panning and scrolling
There are two toolbar buttons for panning and scrolling.
Select this button and then click anywhere in the graphical
window. As you drag the mouse, the selected point follows the
mouse. This allows you to position accurately any visible part of
the plot within the screen area.
Select this button and then click the mouse anywhere within the
graphical window. As you drag the mouse, the picture will move
in the direction you move the mouse. The further you move the
mouse, the faster the picture will move. Release the mouse
button to stop the movement. On slower machines, movement
may continue slightly after the mouse is released.
Zooming
There are two toolbar buttons for zooming:
Select this button and then use the mouse to draw a rectangle
around the area you wish to see on the screen. Position the
crosshairs then click the mouse and drag the pointer to the
diagonally opposite corner of the area you wish to see. You can
only zoom in (enlarge the view) with this method.
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Select this button and click anywhere within the Graphical
window. The view zooms in when you drag the mouse upwards,
and zooms out when you move downwards.
Rotating the view
Sometimes you can see more of the model if you rotate it from its
normal north/south orientation. Click this button to rotate the
view about the centre of the picture. Click and drag the mouse
left to rotate the view clockwise. Click and drag the mouse right
to rotate the view anticlockwise. Alternatively, you can rotate the
view by pressing Ctrl+ left (or right) arrow key. [You cannot
rotate the view when a bitmap is on the screen.]
Restoring the view
To restore the view (so that the whole model can be seen in the
Graphical window) click this button.
FIND
The Edit, Find function allows you to select objects according
to the value of any non-positional parameter, or according to the
object’s ident (description). You can search for a single value or a
range of values, e.g:
10.2
searches for any object where the chosen parameter is exactly
10.2.
10>11
searches for any object where the chosen parameter is between
10 and 11 (inclusive).
11.8>
searches for any object where the chosen parameter is greater
than or equal to 11.8.
If you choose to search by Ident, then the search will locate any
object containing the search string within its Ident description.
Find may not operate on all object types: available options are
shown on the drop-down list in the Find Object box. The
available search parameters vary according to the type of object
selected.
5:4
Navigation And Editing: Find
Navigation And Editing: Postcodes
5:5
Find dialogue box
FIND NEXT (F3)
Press F3 to search for the next occurrence of the search item.
POSTCODES
You can use a postcode to download an area from the database,
provided you have the requisite AddressPoint database loaded
onto the server. (You must load AddressPoint in a separate
operation as there is currently no automatic function to do this in
NoiseMap.)
The use of this feature is described on page 4:8.
The location of the postcode reference point will be marked. The
View, Show Postcode function switches the displayed post
code marker on or off.
SELECTING AN OBJECT
Before you can edit an object, you must first select it. There are
many ways of doing this, as follows:
POINT AND CLICK
Ensure that you are in Select Mode by clicking the arrow button
in the toolbar. Then pointing at the object and clicking. You can
add to the selected objects by holding down the shift key and
clicking on more objects.
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Multiple and overlapping
objects
If objects are overlapping, then as you click on a point, the
selection cycles through each object at that point one by one. If
you press shift as you do this, it will eventually select all the
objects.
Greying out
With the Point and click and particularly with the Enclosure
method (below), you may find it easier to select a particular
object if you firstly grey-out or turn off objects you want to ignore
using the View>Display Options>Labels dialogue.
Deselecting
You can de-select selected items by pointing at the item, holding
down the shift key and clicking. Pressing Escape deselects all
objects.
ENCLOSURE METHOD
If you want to select a large area of objects, then you can click
with the mouse and drag a rectangle over the area. All objects
within the rectangle will be selected.
COMPLETE CHAIN
SELECTION
If have selected one or more objects in a chain, you can select
the rest of the chain by choosing Edit, Complete chain
selection or by pressing Ctrl + R.
FIND
The find method puts all matched objects into selected mode.
This is a very powerful way of selecting groups of objects with a
property that needs to be changed, for example you may want to
assign all segments of type ‘Motorway’ to be category 10. You
would find all segments of type Motorway, and then in the
multiple objects dialogue, change the Category to 10.
MANAGER SCREENS
Many of the Manager screens allow you to select objects where a
particular property has been assigned, including:

Traffic flows

Activities

Train services

Barrier adjustments
This can be useful both for accuracy checks and for changing
assignments.
5:6
Navigation And Editing: Selecting An Object
Navigation And Editing: Object Properties Window
5:7
OBJECT PROPERTIES WINDOW
The object properties window can be opened by double-clicking
on any object in the graphical display, by clicking the Edit
current selection button in the toolbar, by selecting
Edit, Current selection from the menu, or by the
shortcut key Ctrl+E.
It will remain open and can be positioned at any convenient
place on the computer display. Its appearance will change
according to the type of object selected. When multiple objects
are selected, the display will change so that common properties
are shown. If the objects are of different types, then you will be
limited to moving the objects.
The object properties windows are described in the section of
this manual that deals with the particular type of object.
MOVING OBJECTS
You can move a selected object, or a collection of selected
objects, by entering Move mode (click on the elbow-shaped
button in the tool bar or right-click the mouse). You can then
drag with the mouse. For large or precise movements, the Edit,
Edit Object Co-ordinates function may be better. This
also allows you to scale and rotate the model.
When two objects are connected in a chain, they remain
connected when you move the common point, with their length
stretching or shrinking as necessary. If you do not wish to move
both objects, you must first break the chain as described below.
SPLIT OBJECT
NoiseMap contains a function that lets you divide line objects
into two parts. Click on the object and choose Edit, Split
Object from the main menu. The object will be split into two
parts, with the height at the join being the average of the heights
at the start and end of the original object. You will be asked if
you wish to maintain consecutive ID numbering, which is useful,
but take care not to be confused if this causes the ID numbers of
other objects to change.
You can continue to apply the Split Object function to subdivide
the object further, if required.
When an object has been split, the two parts remain joined in a
chain. You can then use the move function to reposition the two
parts of the object and they will hinge about the join. If you do
not wish them to move together, then you must break the chain
as described below.
Splitting ground contours
Where a ground contour is being split and the contour cross a
road or another contour, then instead of being split into two
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halves, it will be split at each point where it crosses the road or
contour. This can be useful when tidying up ground models.
Hint: Copying objects
There is no dedicated Copy function in NoiseMap. One method of copying
objects (within or between scenarios) is to save the object in a Shapefile and
then to re-import it. You have to save all the objects of the chosen type that are
loaded.
BREAK CHAIN
This function breaks the chain that links two objects so that the
join can be separated by moving them with the mouse. You
select the function from Edit, Break chain.
COPYING OBJECTS
There is no function to copy an object, for example to duplicate
it within a scenario or to copy it to another scenario. If you need
to copy an object to another scenario, one method is to save it as
a Shapefile and then import it into the other scenario.
DELETING OBJECTS
You can delete all selected objects by pressing the Delete key.
If you delete an object by mistake, you can usually recover it by
selecting Edit, Undo. If you want to remove a whole area from
the model, you could use the enclosure method to select all the
objects within the area, and then press Delete.
If you only want to delete certain types of object, for example
noise barriers, then you can go to the View Options dialogue and
set the objects that you wish to retain either to Grey, or Off
completely. Only the Full or bright objects can then be selected.
DELETE SELECTION
This deletes the selected object or objects. If the objects are
joined in a chain, you are offered a choice of either

Breaking the chain; or

Moving the points each side of the split so that the chain is
maintained. The new join will be at the centre of the deleted
section.
Because contours are stored as a series of linked points, you can
only select the points and not the links between them.
Therefore, if you delete a point in the middle of a contour chain,
unless you choose to maintain the chain, the objects each side of
the deleted point will disappear.
5:8
Navigation And Editing: Deleting Objects
Navigation And Editing: Undo And Redo
5:9
UNDO AND REDO
UNDO
This will Undo the last deletion or move made using the mouse
on the graphical display. Some operations cannot be undone.
REDO
This reverses the previous Undo. (Dependent on the version, it
may be possible to Redo up to four successive Undos)
NAVIGATING ALONG LINE OBJECTS
ROAD SEGMENTS
The segment editing window has forwards [>>] and backwards
[<<] buttons to help you move along line objects. These
behave slightly differently when you are in edit and add mode.
Editing existing segments
The graphical display shows you which segment the dialogue
box is showing. As you scroll through, the segments will be
displayed in roughly the order they were entered.
When a forward or backward button is pressed, any changes to
the displayed data are applied before the next segment is
displayed. To close the dialogue box, click OK.
Adding new segments
When you are entering properties for new segments, use the
forward button to move on to the next segment. This will
automatically inherit the properties of the previous segment, so
you only need to change any properties which are not the same.
When you have reached the end of the chain, the forward arrow
will be greyed out. Use the OK button to close the window.
If you have selected one of the automatic height calculation
methods from the Add menu, you should find that the start and
end heights are already filled in correctly. If you have not
selected automatic height calculation from the Add menu or if
you have selected to Enter Manually from the DXF convert
menu, you will need to enter data for each segment. As you
move through the list, the start and end heights will be set to the
last entered end height.
You may click OK at any time to close the editing window. Any
remaining segments will automatically inherit the properties of
the last highlighted object. This means that if all the objects in
the chain have the same properties, you only need to enter the
correct values for the first one. If you have chosen not to
automatically generate heights, any remaining segments will be
set to the last entered height.
If you use the backward button to move to a previous segment
(e.g. to correct a mistake) any unedited segments will inherit the
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properties of the segment nearest to them down the chain, not
the currently-displayed values.
EDIT OBJECT CO-ORDINATES
This function allows the user to re-position, rotate, flip or re-scale
selected objects in the model. Sometimes, a scheme drawing
may be based on a different grid from the national grid, and this
function allows the two grids to be aligned. It can also be used
where a mistake is made with the scale of a drawing, or where
the north direction has been entered wrongly. Only the selected
objects will be altered. The shift (move) function of this
command is also available from the Edit Current Selection
window when multiple objects are selected.
Displacement
This shifts the model by the specified amount in the X or Y
directions, or adds the specified amount to every height relative
to the map datum. Note that this does not change the heights
relative to local ground.
Rotation
Type in the angle of rotation that you require. A positive angle
gives a clockwise rotation. The rotation takes place around the
centre of the selected objects, or of the whole model, if no
objects are selected, which is usually what you will require.
[Rotation about the origin would ‘swing’ the model out of view.]
Hint: Rotation about other points
You can obtain rotation about any point by applying a displacement to
bring the centre of the model to the co-ordinates of the rotation, and
after rotating, reverse the displacement.
X-scale, Y-scale
These stretch the model about its centre (calculated from the
most extreme points on any objects in the model). Thus, a scale
factor of 2.0 in the X-direction would double the distance of all
objects from the centre of the model (or centre of the selected
objects) in the horizontal direction.
Flip in X-co-ordinates,
Y-co-ordinates
This effectively reverses the direction of model on the chosen
axis. The model is flipped about its centre. Thus, an object which
ran from north to south will run from south to north after flipping
in the Y-direction. This effectively creates a mirror image, so it is
not the same as a rotation, as the orientation of the other axis is
unaffected. (Flipping on both X and Y directions is equivalent to
a 180-degree rotation.)
MEASURING TOOL
The measuring tool can be started by clicking its toolbar button
or by selecting Edit, Measure tool from the menu. The
measure tool shows:
5:10
Navigation And Editing: Measuring Tool
Navigation And Editing: Contours
5:11

Current cursor position (in model co-ordinates)

Delta x, y (change of model co-ordinates of cursor position in
metres from point last clicked)

Length (distance in metres) of cursor position from point last
clicked

Angle (of cursor position from point last clicked)

Path Delta x, y (change of cursor position from first point
clicked)

Path length (distance of cursor from start, going through all
the points clicked)
Pressing the Esc key deletes the last point clicked (ie backtracks
along the path).
Right-click to reset the measure tool. Click on the Select arrow in
the toolbar to exit from the measure tool.
CONTOURS
GROUND HEIGHT AND
GROUND TYPE
The contour data is used to supply two objects:

Ground height

Ground type
GROUND HEIGHT
CONTOURS
Ground heights can either be:

contours denoting a line of level height

profiles of earthworks, etc. which vary in height along their
length
You can import ground contours from a variety of digital ground
models (see the Index to find further details), but sometimes you
may want to add or edit them manually.
Adding ground contours or
profiles manually
To add a ground contour or profile manually, select Add New
Object from the Edit menu, or click the green + button on the
toolbar. The shortcut is Ctrl+A. Select Ground Contours from
the list and click OK.
Note that if you require NoiseMap to get the height of ground
contours automatically, this can only be done when you first add
them, by selecting Automatically Generate Height in
the Add Object dialogue.
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Click with the mouse at the position of the first point of the
contour, then move to the next point and click again. Continue
until you have reached the end of the contour. If the contour is
to form a complete loop, press Shift and then left click to
complete the loop.
Press Escape to remove the last added point. Right-click when
you have completed the chain of points. The Ground Contour
Properties dialogue will open and all the points in the chain you
have just entered will be selected. They will be displayed in the
list at the bottom of the dialogue box and will all be highlighted
(shown in purple). At this point, if it is a level contour, enter its
height into the Contour Common Height box and click Apply.
This height will be assigned to all the points in the chain.
However, if it is a profile of varying height, then use the mouse
to select the first point in the chain. It will be highlighted in
purple in the list. Enter the appropriate height and then use the
forward and backward arrows at the bottom of the dialogue box
to move along the chain and enter the appropriate height for
each point in the height list.
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Navigation And Editing: Contours
Navigation And Editing: Contours
5:13
Ground height contours
GROUND TYPE OUTLINES
Ground Type
When propagated over soft ground, noise is attenuated to a
greater degree than would be expected by distance alone.
NoiseMap will assume that all ground is soft, eg grass, gardens,
cultivated fields, belts of trees, etc unless either

the default ground type is changed in the road segment
model data; or

a particular area of the model is outlined as hard
Note that it is also possible to define an area as soft, where the
default ground type has been changed to hard.
Such areas of hard or soft ground type are outlined in a series of
straight lines which must enclose an area, ie the end must join
back to the start. Such outlines must not cross a road, but they
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may butt up to it. The outline should be marked in clockwise
order and the ground type is that enclosed within the outline.
You can import ground type outlines directly from digital maps,
but sometimes you may want to add or edit them manually.
Adding ground type
outlines manually
Adding a ground type outline manually is a similar process to
adding ground height contours. Select Add New Object from
the Edit menu, or click the green + button on the toolbar. The
shortcut is Ctrl+A. Select Ground Contour from the list and
click OK.
Click with the mouse at the position of the first point of the
contour, then move to the next point and click again. Continue
until you have reached the end of the outline. Outlines should
form a complete loop: press Shift and then left click to complete
the loop.
If you position a point incorrectly, you can press Escape to
remove the last added point. Right-click when you have
completed the chain of points. The Ground Contour Properties
dialogue will open and all the points in the chain you have just
entered will be selected. They will be displayed in the list at the
bottom of the dialogue box and will all be highlighted (shown in
purple).
Ground Type Outlines
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Navigation And Editing: Contours
Navigation And Editing: Spot Height Chain
5:15
Setting the Ground Type
You should now indicate whether this is a hard or soft ground
outline by clicking in the space opposite Contour type and
choosing from the drop down list either:

Hard Ground Outline ; or

Soft Ground Outline.
This will be applied to all the points selected in the list, as the
ground type must be the same at all the points in the list.
SPOT HEIGHT CHAIN
Spot heights are a classical method of indicating heights on
maps. They consist of a position marker (usually a dot or a cross)
with a label indicating the ground height at that point.
Classically, spot heights were marked along roads, often
positioned at junctions, but they do not provide any information
on ground levels between the markers. This means that you
would not normally want to join them permanently in the form
of a ground contour, but you may still wish to use them to obtain
ground heights if they are only height information available in
the locality. NoiseMap lets you join them temporarily in a spot
height chain, which can then be used as a temporary means of
obtaining the heights of other objects, such as roads and ground
contours. Note that Spot height chains are not stored in the
model, they are only available temporarily, and when you create
a new one, the old one disappears.
Creating a spot height
chain
Select Spot height chain from the Add Object menu and
click OK. Having decided the order in which you wish to ‘join’
the spot heights, click on them in turn. When you have
completed the chain, right click to terminate. You will be
presented with the Spot Height Point Properties dialogue and the
first point in the chain will be selected. Enter its height in the
box, then use the forward arrow to move to the next point, enter
its height and continue until you have entered a height for each
point. You may then wish to check back along the chain,
because once you have clicked OK, the points can no longer be
edited. When you are sure that the heights are correct, click OK.
You may now choose to use the spot height chain to get the
heights of objects that you add. Note that NoiseMap assumes
that the ground slopes steadily between the points on the spot
height chain.
Closing a spot height chain
The spot height chain will close as soon as you choose to enter
another one – you can only have one chain present at any one
time. To close a spot height chain, select to add another spot
height chain and the original one will close.
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BARRIERS
Interruptions of the noise propagation path have a major effect
on noise levels. Such interruptions can occur in many ways, but
the principal effects are caused by ground features (which can be
natural or built forms), buildings and various forms of noise
screening walls, fences or panels.
In NoiseMap five, the potential noise screening of ground
features and buildings is automatically considered and so these
should not be entered separately as noise barriers. Only noise
screening walls, fences and panels need to be entered
specifically as noise barrier objects. It is often necessary to test
the effect of varying the height of a noise barrier, and NoiseMap
has a feature that allows the height of noise barriers to be
temporarily adjusted for this purpose.
The total number of barriers that can be accommodated in
NoiseMap five is practically unlimited. For further information,
see the specification for your version. You can specify the initial
number of barriers when creating a noise model, but this is only
for initial memory management and will be automatically
expanded as required, see p 18:4.
You can import noise barriers from a variety of digital ground
models (see the Index to find further details), but sometimes you
may want to add or edit them manually, as described below.
Adding barriers manually
To add a noise barrier manually, select Add New Object from
the Edit menu, or click the green + button on the toolbar. The
shortcut is Ctrl+A. Select Barriers from the list and click OK.
[If Barriers are greyed out, then they have been set to ‘Grey’ or
‘Off’ in the Display Options menu.]
Note that if you require NoiseMap to get the height of noise
barriers automatically as you create them, this can be done by
selecting Automatically Generate Height in the Add
Object dialogue. The drop-down list offers a number of ways of
getting the barrier height, depending on what height data is
available in the model. Normally, you will choose base the
barrier height on the NoiseMap ground model. Usually, you will
also want the barrier to be at a certain height above ground level,
so enter this amount in the box labelled ‘Additional height to be
added.’ See the index for other ways of obtaining heights. Click
OK and the cursor will change to cross-hairs to indicate that you
are in ADD mode.
Click with the mouse at the position of the first point of the
barrier, then move to the next point and click again. Continue
until you have reached the end of the barrier. If the barrier is to
form a complete loop, press Shift and then left click to complete
the loop.
If you make an error when adding a point, press Escape to
remove the last added point. Right-click when you have
5:16
Navigation And Editing: Barriers
Navigation And Editing: Barriers
5:17
completed the chain of points. The Multiple Barrier Properties
dialogue will open and all the points in the chain you have just
entered will be selected. At this point you can enter any
properties that apply to all the barriers in the chain, as follows.
Make the changes you require and then click apply to apply the
parameters to the chain of barriers you have just entered.
Object position
parameters
When multiple barriers are selected, the co-ordinates and heights
of individual barriers is not shown. Instead the dialogue contains
a section headed Object position and displacement. Any values
entered here will move the barrier by the corresponding amount
in the X, Y and Height directions. This would be a good way of
adding a given amount to the height of all the selected barriers,
for example.
When an individual barrier is selected (usually by clicking on the
graphical display) then properties of the individual barrier are
shown. These include the following:
ID Number
NoiseMap will automatically number the barriers consecutively
from 1.
The barrier ID number acts as a label for reference purposes on
plots and on printouts, but is not used in any computation.
Usually the automatic numbering is sufficient but you could
assign any convenient integer of up to six digits as the barrier ID
number, perhaps if you wanted to adopt some convention in the
numbering system, such as roadside barriers starting at 1000,
housing at 2000, etc.
Identifier
This is a label to describe the barriers, eg Screen for haul road.
TOID, Modified, Root
Scenario
This is non-user editable information about the object.
Tile ID
This identifies the tile to which the barrier point belongs
Start coordinates X = Y =
End Coordinates X = Y =
You can manually adjust the position of a barrier by typing new
values into the object position boxes.
Start Height
End Height
The height value is the height of the start and end of the barrier
above ordnance datum, not local ground. The heights should be
entered to an accuracy of 0.1m if possible.
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Single barrier properties screen
Height above ground
This gives the height of a barrier above the local ground.
However, it is not currently stored: it is only used when
performing a height calculation as described below.
Height calculation
NoiseMap will automatically calculate the height of the top of
the noise barrier. You enter the height above ground for the top
of the barrier, and select whether the top of the barrier is to be
parallel with the ground or to be horizontal, with the average
height of the two ends at the required height above local ground
level.
From the drop-down list, you then choose the method of
obtaining the height of the ends of the barrier, and click Get
Height. The methods of obtaining the height will depend on
data available in the model. The most common method is to get
the height from the NoiseMap ground model (ie ground
contours). You may also be able to use an OS Landform Grid
model if loaded, or from a Spot Height chain.
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Navigation And Editing: Barriers
Navigation And Editing: Barriers
5:19
Barrier Width
By entering a value other than zero, NoiseMap will interpret the
barrier as having a flat-top with the specified width in metres.
This results in the effective height of the barrier being increased,
above the physical height specified with the start and end
coordinates. On plan the barrier will still be interpreted as a line,
running from the start to the end co-ordinates specified.
Overhang width
This parameter is currently only used in RailNoise calculations,
and is the distance by which the top of the barrier overhangs
from the baseline of the barrier towards the railway. This
parameter is ignored for road and site calculations.
Fractional open area
A discontinuous barrier, for example a row of houses, can be
entered as a single barrier with a proportion of open area. If the
response to this prompt is, say 0.2, NoiseMap will interpret this
as a specification that 20% of the barrier length is open. The
graphical display will show a fractionally open barrier with a
dashed line. In calculating the noise attenuation NoiseMap will
assume that the proportion of the barrier that is open will be
subject to soft ground excess where the ground type specification
makes this appropriate.
Absorbency
This allows barriers to be denoted as either absorbent or nonabsorbent (reflective) for noise. The effect of absorbency on
calculations depends on the relevant calculation method (CRTN,
CRN, BS5228, etc). These currently do not use intermediate
values of absorbency as this leads to spurious accuracy because
the effect of reflections from barriers is not large in most cases.
HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT
(Adjustable layers)
This allows you to apply an increment to the height of this barrier
when you commence a calculation, without permanently
changing the height of the barrier. This is very useful when you
are trying to optimise barrier heights to achieve particular design
goals.
NoiseMap has ten height adjustment layers, labelled Level 1 to
Level 10, that can be applied to the selected barrier. Each one of
these adjustment layers adds a set amount to the height of the
barrier. The amount of adjustment applied by each layer is set in
the Parameters, Edit barrier Adjustments window.
The current settings are shown in brackets after the Level
number. The adjustment is a temporary correction which is only
applied whilst the calculation is run. Tick the combination of
layers you wish to apply to the barrier (or none at all).
Chaining Barriers
Barriers, like road segments and contours, are frequently entered
as a series of straight lines approximations chained together.
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RECEIVERS
Receivers are specific points at which you require a noise
calculation, as distinct from noise contours which show noise
levels across an area. The calculation options and procedures for
Receivers are detailed in Chapter 11 “Calculation at individual
receivers.”
SAVING CHANGES
When you have made changes to a noise model, you will wish
to save them. Normally, you will save the changes to the
database, either as a change to the existing scenario that you are
currently using, or to a new scenario, thus leaving the existing
scenario unchanged. You cannot save the changes into a
different scenario that already exists.
To save the changes to the database, select File, Commit
changes from the menu bar. This will open a dialogue box
asking you to select the scenario to commit the changes to:

Current scenario

New child based on current scenario
If you choose to save to a new ‘child’ scenario, then a further
dialogue box will ask for:

Scenario name

Scenario number (you would normally accept the number
offered by the system)

Description of scenario
When the changes are saved to a new scenario, only the
differences between the two scenarios are saved. If changes are
later made to the parent scenario, then those changes will also be
seen in the child scenario.
The exception to this rule is where an object has differences
between the parent and child scenarios. (For example, the
object may have a different height or may have been deleted
entirely in the child scenario.) In such cases, a change to the
object in the parent scenario will not affect the properties of the
object in the child scenario. Changes to objects in the child
scenario will never affect the parent scenario.
CONFLICT CHECKING
It is possible that two users may start editing the same area and
same scenario at the same time. This is no problem as long as
they do not modify the same object. However, if they modify
the same object, there is a conflict as to which user’s changes
should prevail. NoiseMap recognises this conflict and only saves
the changes made by the first user. The second user is warned of
the situation so that they can take action if necessary.
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Navigation And Editing: Saving Changes
Navigation And Editing: Optimise Database
5:21
OPTIMISE DATABASE
When a large number of changes have been made to a database,
its indexes can become fragmented and the tables can contain a
large amount of redundant data. This makes the database bigger
and slower than it needs to be. The Files, Optimise
Database function cleans up the database so that it is smaller
and can be searched more rapidly. It also removes blank tiles
from scenarios, e.g. where all the objects in a tile have been
deleted. This reduces blank tiles in the display when resetting
the view of a scenario.
You only need to undertake an optimisation after you have made
a large number of changes to the database. It does take some
time to execute on a large database.
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Road Noise Modelling: Starting The Software
6:1
6. ROAD NOISE MODELLING
STARTING THE SOFTWARE
Before you start creating a road noise model, you will need to
create a database as described in Chapter 4 of this manual.
If this database already contains the geographical data (for
example, it already has a site or rail noise model in it), then you
can proceed to add traffic flow data and road segments as
described in the following sections of this manual. If not, then
create the geographical model in one of the many ways
described in this manual. You may find it useful to create the
ground model (ground height contours) first, as the height of
other objects can then be taken from them. If you are entering
road segments manually, you may find it useful to enter the
traffic flow data next, as you can then assign the traffic flows
when you add each road segment. However, you can add
segment heights and traffic flows later if this is more convenient.
TRAFFIC FLOW DATA
There are three main ways of entering traffic flow data:

Manually, using the Traffic Flow dialogue box;

Importing from a spreadsheet;

Importing as part of the roads shapefile.
When entering traffic flows manually, it may be convenient to do
this before entering any road segments, as this will make it easier
to assign the correct traffic flows to the segments. If you do this,
then you will need to download all traffic flows as described
below, otherwise flows not already assigned to segments will
seem to have disappeared.
CRTN rules for traffic flow
data
There are detailed rules in CRTN about traffic flow data, which
should be observed. The most important is that speeds must be
between 20 km/h and 130 km/h. However, NoiseMap will use a
speed of 20 km/h if you enter a value of less than that. Speeds
are normally to be taken from the table of prescribed speeds at
para 14.2 of CRTN.
24 × 1-h flows
Two major changes in noise assessment methodology have taken
place in the last few years. The first of these is the calculation of
Lden, required by the EU Environmental Noise Directive, which
requires calculation of noise over a 24-hour period and over day,
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evening and night periods. The other change is the introduction
of traffic management, including speed and lane control, on
congested routes. This means that previous assumptions about
the daily traffic profile – the variation in traffic flow over a 24hour period – may not be appropriate in some cases.
In order to assess these cases accurately, it may be desired to
calculate noise levels based on the traffic flow parameters in the
day, evening and night periods, or indeed in each hour of the
day. NoiseMap five provides for such assessments to be carried
out easily.
You can enter

18-hour,

1 hour,

day/evening/night and

24 by 1-hour traffic flow data.
All the traffic flows must be on the same time basis in any one
scenario, eg all 18-hour flows or all 24 × 1-h flows, although
different bases can be used in different scenarios.
Loading all traffic flows
Normally, for speed, NoiseMap only downloads traffic flows that
have already been assigned to road segments before ending the
modelling session. Other flows not assigned to road segments
will seem to have disappeared. However, you can force
NoiseMap to download all traffic flows automatically when you
connect to the scenario, by going to Parameters, Program
Options. Select the Model Loading section and under
Traffic Flows, select ‘Load all traffic flows in model’.
Alternatively, you can download all traffic flows at any time by
selecting Parameters, Load all traffic flows
CHANGING TRAFFIC FLOW
DATA
A very common requirement of Road Traffic noise modelling is
to test the effect of different traffic flow situations. For example,
you may wish to test the difference in noise levels between
opening year and design year, or between alternative scheme
options.
NoiseMap is designed to simplify this process by keeping the
traffic flow table separate from the road segment information,
and linking them by a traffic flow reference number (called a
Flow ID in NoiseMap) rather than entering the traffic flow values
directly as part of the road segment data.
This allows you to replace the whole set of traffic flow values
with different ones where necessary, without having to edit the
road segment information. You can change the traffic flow values
by manually editing each one in the traffic flow dialogue box,
6:2
Road Noise Modelling: Traffic Flow Data
Road Noise Modelling: Traffic Flow Data
6:3
but this could be slow and tedious if many values have to be
changed.
Alternatively, if you have the traffic flow data in spreadsheet or
ASCII file format, you can easily import the spreadsheet or ASCII
file, which will then update all the traffic flows. Both options are
described in the following sections. The file-import method can
be automated using the scripting interface, see the index for
references.
When you change a traffic flow parameter (such as a flow rate, %
heavy, speed or speed basis) then that new value applies to the
scenario you save it to, and its child scenarios. It does not affect
any values in the parent scenario.
For example, if you are working in the Base Scenario, you can
import the new traffic flows and save them to a new scenario
called, for example ‘Design Year’, which will be identical to the
Base Scenario except for the different flows.
Each traffic flow can have a name as well as a Traffic Flow
reference ID number. If you change the name of the traffic flow,
the new name will appear in all scenarios, because each Traffic
Flow reference ID number has the same name throughout the
database: you cannot have different flow names in each scenario
although you can have difference flow values.
If you change the Flow ID, this creates a new traffic flow, with
the flow values that were already assigned. Because this is a new
flow, its parameters will be the same in all scenarios from the
base scenario onwards, unless a value is subsequently changed.
MANUAL ENTRY USING THE
TRAFFIC FLOW DIALOGUE
BOX
You add or change traffic flows using the Traffic Flow dialogue
box. To open this from the main menu, select Parameters,
Edit Traffic flow.
Adding traffic flows
When you start a new scheme, no traffic flows will have been
entered. You must firstly click Add Flow, to open the New
Traffic Flow dialogue box. Here, you will be requested to
add the following information:
Flow ID
The Flow ID is a reference number for the traffic flow. Its main
purpose is to link the traffic flow data to particular road
segments. NoiseMap will offer the next Flow ID number in the
sequence. If you want a different ID number, type the number
into the Flow ID box. If you choose a flow ID that is already in
use, you will get a warning and must choose a different ID.
The flow ID can be up to 9 digits long, i.e. up to 999999999.
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Flow Text
This is a name or description for the flow (eg a road name).
Examples are:
CORONATION STREET, YEAR 2015
Or
RAMSEY STREET, YEAR 2003
Press TAB to move onto the next entry column.
Adding flow data
You can now add the flow data in the boxes on the dialogue
box:
Traffic Flows dialogue box (part)
Flow type
Choose the type of flow data that you wish to enter from the
drop-down list, which is as follows:

18-hour;

1-hour;

D/E/N (Day/Evening/Night);

24-hour.
If you choose 18-hour or 1-hour, then this goes in the first three
traffic flow columns.
If you choose Day/Evening/Night, enter values in the second,
third and fourth traffic flow columns (for certain Lden calculations,
you will also need to add an 18-hour value as well)
If you choose 24-hour, then you use all 24 traffic flow columns.
18 hour or 1 hour
These buttons apply when you have chosen to enter generic
CRTN/Leq traffic flows. Click the appropriate button.
6:4
Road Noise Modelling: Traffic Flow Data
Road Noise Modelling: Traffic Flow Data
6:5
Please see also the advice1 on the ROI (NRA) methodology if
you wish to use the Irish method, as both Methods A and B can
usually be calculated from the 18-hour traffic flow.
Corrected for gradient
If the traffic speed for a particular road has been directly
measured, or estimated by the highway authority, the user
should check this box. This response instructs NoiseMap not to
make any correction to the traffic speed as a result of road
gradient, as the correction is already implicit within the mean
speed value. If, as is more usual, the traffic speed was taken from
the table in CRTN Para 14.2, this box should not be checked,
and NoiseMap will make the appropriate correction for the effect
of gradient on traffic speed.
Flow rate
This is the total traffic flow over the time period that you selected
in Flow Type.
For a one-way road, this refers to the number of vehicles
travelling in one direction. For a two-way road, the vehicle flow
is the sum of the vehicles travelling in both directions, except
where the two carriageways are effectively separated (ie the road
segment type is Dual Carriageway). If the two carriageways are
separated by more than 5 m horizontally or the heights of the
outer edges of the two carriageways differ by more than 1 m, the
value to be entered should be half the value for the two-way
flow. (The details of the road will be added later).
Traffic census data which has been collected over a 16-hour
period can be converted to an 18-hour flow value by adding 5 %
to the 16-hour value.
Speed
This is the mean speed of the traffic flow, in kilometres per hour.
‘Calculation of Road Traffic Noise’ gives in Para 14.2 a table of
values to be used depending on the road classification. In most
circumstances, these values should be used, without any
correction for road gradient. NoiseMap will automatically make
the appropriate correction.
% heavy vehicles
The value entered here is the average of the percentage of heavy
vehicles (ie vehicles exceeding an unladen weight of 1525 kg)
for each hour in the 18-hour period. If a traffic flow for a 1-hour
period has been entered, the percentage of heavy vehicles
should related to the same hour. No percentage sign should be
entered.
Root scenario
This shows the name of the scenario where the current
parameters of the traffic flow were entered.
This is for
information and cannot be edited by the user.
1
Implementation of NRA (Ireland) Method for Calculation of Lden. Technical Advice Note. Atkins May
2008.
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Use
This column shows how many segments use the selected flow.
This is for information and cannot be edited by the user.
Select Roads
You can select all the segments using the selected traffic flow by
clicking the Select Roads button. All the road segments
using the flow will be shown with dotted outlines in the
graphical window and can be edited together, for example to
assign a different traffic flow.
IMPORTING TRAFFIC FLOWS
FROM A SPREADSHEET
You can import traffic flows from a spreadsheet or plain ASCII
file that is saved in CSV (comma-separated values) format. Select
Parameters, Import Traffic Flows from the menu and
navigate to the file.
The first line of the spreadsheet can contain a heading describing
the columns to aid readability, but you cannot use the heading to
change the column order or to omit columns. The spreadsheet
must be laid out as shown below.
FLOWNUM
1
2
3
NAME
TYPE CORRECTED
FLOW0 SPEED0 PHGV0 FLOW1 SPEED1 PHGV1 FLOW2 SPEED2 PHGV2 FLOW3 SPEED3 PHGV3 FLOW4 SPEED4 PHGV4
Moor Lane 24HR
0
210
50
15.6
133
50
21.3
95
50
26.8
83
50
33.1
93
50
44.1
Farm Road 24HR
0
84
50
2.6
53
50
3.6
38
50
4.5
33
50
5.5
37
50
7.4
Barnwell Avenue
24HR
0
25
50
2.6
16
50
3.6
11
50
4.5
10
50
5.5
11
50
7.4
Traffic flow import format
FlowNum is a user-assigned flow ID number of up to 9 digits. If
this Flow ID is already present in the traffic flow data, then the
existing traffic flow values with that ID will be replaced by the
new values from the spreadsheet. This gives an easy way of
updating flows between scenarios. If the flow ID is not already
present, it will be added to the database.
The flow name given in the spreadsheet will replace any flow
name for that flow number already in the database, and this
name will apply to all scenarios.
Type indicates the period(s) covered by the flow data, and can be
24HR, 18HR or 1HR or DEN. Note that in any one scenario, the
flows must all be of the same type – you cannot mix them.
Corrected indicates whether the speed is corrected for gradient.
A value of 0 means it is not corrected for gradient and a value of
1 indicates that the speed is corrected for gradient. For more
information on these settings, see the preceding section on
Manual Data Entry.
This column is then followed by up to 24 periods of flow data.
For each period, the flow rate, speed and percentage of heavy
vehicles are given as follows.
For 1 hour or 18-hour data, period 0 must be used. For Day,
Evening and Night, periods 1, 2 and 3 must be used (note:
calculation of Lden requires the 18-hour value as well as the
6:6
Road Noise Modelling: Traffic Flow Data
Road Noise Modelling: Segments
6:7
d/e/n values to be given). For 24-hour flows, use all 24 periods
from 0 to 23. Period 0 represents the hour 00:00 to 01:00, period
1 represents 01:00 to 02:00, and so on up to period 23 which
represents 23:00 to 24:00 (midnight).
SEGMENTS
The properties of individual road segments can be edited by selecting
the segment. If the properties window is not already open you can open
it by double-clicking on the object or by clicking on the Edit
Properties button in the toolbar.
Road segment properties
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Where there is a range of options for a particular parameter, a dropdown list is shown, from which you can select the required value.
ROAD SEGMENT
PROPERTIES
Number
This is user-chosen numerical value to identify the segment.
NoiseMap maintains its own internal identifiers which are not
user-editable and are not normally shown.
Identifier
This is a user-chosen text label, such as the road name.
Category
Select an appropriate category for the road segment from the
drop-down list. All segments must be assigned to a category in
order for the contribution from the segment to be included in
receiver and noise contour calculations. See page 4:38.
TOID
This is a universal object identifier which is not user-editable. It
is usually assigned when the object is imported from an external
data source.
Modified
This is the last time that the properties of this segment were
modified in the database, and is provided for information only.
Root Scenario
This is the scenario where the current properties of the object
were entered. It is provided to assist in tracing the inheritance of
the properties of the object.
OBJECT POSITION
These are the 3d co-ordinates of the start and end of the segment.
Heights
Heights can be assigned in a variety of ways. Usually, they will
be imported from the Shapefile or DXF file, or they are obtained
from the ground model. To get a height automatically, Click
Select Method to get height. The drop-down list will
show the range of options available at the present time. Select
the required method with the mouse and click. The height will
be calculated using the chosen method and the height above
local ground (set in the Local Height box) will be added to the
local ground height. Positive values will put the road on a bridge
or flyover, whilst negative values will put it into a cutting.
6:8
Road Noise Modelling: Segments
Road Noise Modelling: Segments
6:9
Heights
Local height
This is the height of the carriageway above local ground level,
not at the start of the segment, but at the centre of the segment
length. If the segment is in a cutting, the value will be negative.
This item is used when the ground contours between the
segment and a receiver point are not specified. NoiseMap will
calculate the soft ground excess for that segment receiver
combination on the basis of the average of the carriageway
height above ground and the receiver height above ground. As
this will only give an approximation to the actual soft ground
attenuation, the use of this parameter is not generally
recommended as an alternative to contours in critical situations.
Hint - Elevated roads
If the road is not at local ground level, then type the height above local
ground level into the Local height box. This value will be added to
the local ground contour value when the road height is calculated. This
has the effect of putting the road onto ‘stilts’, which will be seen in the
3D view. You should not normally use negative values to put the road
into a cutting, as you must ensure that the ground contours correctly
define the cutting.
Tile
This is an internal identifier used by NoiseMap to indicate which
map tile contains the road segment. If a road segment is moved,
the tile number will change automatically if necessary.
ROAD PARAMETERS
Flow
Traffic flows are entered from the Traffic Flow Manager on
the Parameters menu. When you have done this, you can
select the appropriate flow from the drop-down list. The details
of the selected flow are shown below the flow name, but cannot
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be edited here. However, if you also open the Traffic Flow
Manager, then the relevant flow will be automatically selected
and you can edit it there. Note: the traffic flow direction depends
on the type of carriageway (single, dual or one-way), see
Carriageway Properties, below.
[Important Note: if the Carriageway is of Type Dual, the flow
must be half the two-way flow, as it will be used separately for
each direction.]
Road type
This parameter is used in calculating Lden according to the Defra
procedure. You may select either:

Motorway; or

Non-motorway
Surface type
This gives the type of road surfacing material:

BITUMEN

CONCRETE

PERVIOUS

CORRECTION = correction given in dB(A)
If the surface type is selected as CORRECTION, then the user can
insert the correction in dB(A) to be applied, rather than letting
NoiseMap calculate a value. The correction can be a positive or
negative value – a low-noise surface would normally have a
negative value.
Road texture depth
The user should enter the texture depth of the road surfacing
material in mm. (This is the only case in NoiseMap in which a
unit of length is specified other than in metres). The default is
1.5mm. Where the traffic speed is less than 75km/hr, or where a
pervious surfacing is used, it is not necessary to supply a value in
response to this prompt. If the surface type has been defined as a
'CORRECTION', then the next prompt is shown, rather than this
one.
Surface correction
This prompt only appears if the user has chosen a road surface
type of 'CORRECTION'.
This prompt is only there to enable the user to make other
corrections where local circumstances make the departure from
CRTN88 procedures appropriate.
The value should be the number of decibels to be added to the
Basic Noise Level for this segment. This value will be used in
place of the CRTN88 surface correction, and will not be adjusted
for speed or other variations.
6:10
Road Noise Modelling: Segments
Road Noise Modelling: Segments
6:11
Ground type
By default, the ground surrounding the road is assumed to be
acoustically soft. However, in some circumstances it might be
desirable to change this to hard. Be particularly careful not to
mix the ground type of segments in the same model, as this
could result in inconsistency in the calculation of ground
absorption. Note that areas of different ground type can be
specifically defined with ground type outlines.
1st effective barrier
Occasionally, it is necessary for one or more barriers to be
ignored for a particular segment. An instance of this would be
where one road crosses another at high level. The upper road
will have a parapet which needs to be modelled, but NoiseMap
assumes that this goes down to the ground, thus screening the
lower road, which may not be so. The parapet barriers can be
ignored for the lower road by placing them at the front of the
barrier file, then entering the ID number of the first barrier in the
list to be included. Remember to set the number back to 1 for
the next segment.
CARRIAGEWAY PROPERTIES
Carriageway type
The type of carriageway is chosen from the drop-down list, by
clicking on its down-arrow. The choices are:

Normal 2-way road = Normal two-way road; or normal dual
carriageway

One-way single road

Dual carriageway = Two-way flow on two separated parallel
carriageways
A normal two-way road configuration is assigned a type of
Normal 2-way road, even if the road has a central reservation,
provided that

the central reservation has a width of less than 5m AND

the heights of the outside edges of the two carriageways do
not differ by more than 1m.
Where the central reservation exceeds 5m in width, OR the
outside edges of the two carriageways differ in height by more
than 1m, the carriageway type is Dual Carriageway. NoiseMap
will then calculate the separate contributions from the two
carriageways even though only one segment line has been
entered. The traffic flow must be half the two-way flow, as it will
be applied separately to each direction.
When a road is divided into two carriageways, and there is an
effective noise barrier between the carriageways, then a Dual
carriageway type cannot be used. Both carriageways must be
entered separately, as two separate sequences of segments. Each
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sequence should be treated as having a one-way flow, and
therefore both sequences of segments have a type of One-way
single road. (Remember also, that to specify the direction of
traffic flow for each of the carriageways, the two sequences will
have to be entered in opposite orders).
A road segment with one-way traffic flow is of type One-way
single road.
Traffic flow direction
The traffic flow direction is not specified directly in NoiseMap,
but is obtained from the segment properties. For two-way flows,
the flow direction is immaterial, but for one-way flows, then a
gradient correction is applied to the uphill flow, so the flow
direction is important. When the carriageway type is set to Oneway, then the traffic flow direction is taken to be from the start of
the segment towards the end of the segment, and a gradient
correction will be applied if this flow is uphill. If the segment has
been entered in the wrong direction, you can use the Segment
Tools, Reverse segment chain function (shortcut ctrl-x) to
change the direction. For a Dual Carriageway with separate oneway flows in each direction, traffic is taken to drive on the left, so
that if the left-hand carriageway (looking from the start of the
segment and facing towards the end of the segment) is uphill, a
gradient correction will be applied. In cases where traffic drives
on the right, it is recommended that the two directions are
entered as separate one-way flows.
Carriageway width
You need to put in the carriageway width. Note that for a single
carriageway, you enter the width of half the road.
Carriageway Width
6:12
Road Noise Modelling: Segments
Road Noise Modelling: Segments
6:13
Obtaining Carriageway
Width
The width for one-way and two-way single carriageway segments
is half the total width of the road. For dual carriageway segments
the value is the width of one carriageway. You can measure this
width a scale ruler if you have the original plan.
Carriageway Separation
Carriageway Separation
Horizontal Separation
This box specifies horizontal separation between the two
carriageways, ie the width of the central reservation. If the
segment is not divided into two carriageways the value should be
0.0m. If the horizontal separation is greater than 5.0m, the road
must be specified as a separated dual carriageway (ie the
carriageway is type Dual Carriageway). If the horizontal
separation is less than 5.0m (and the carriageways are not at
different heights) CRTN88 requires that the segment be treated as
a normal road with a two-way flow. Hence the carriageway type
should have been specified as Normal 2-way road.
Note: the horizontal separation value is only shown when Dual
Carriageway Type has been selected, but it will still be applied
to single carriageways.
Vertical Separation
The value of the vertical carriageway separation is the difference
in height between the effective source lines of the two
carriageways. The effective source lines are 3.5 m in from the
outer edges of their respective carriageways.
If the heights of the outer edges of the two carriageways differ by
1.0m or less, (and the carriageways are not separated
horizontally by more than 5m) CRTN88 requires that the road be
treated as a normal two-way flow road, and the carriageway type
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
should have been set at Normal 2-way road. If the heights differ
by more than 1.0m, the carriageway type should be Dual
Carriageway.
Note: the vertical separation value is only shown when Dual
Carriageway Type has been selected, but it will still be applied
to single carriageways.
Retained cut parameters
RETAINED CUT SETTING
If the road segment is in a cutting flanked on both sides by
reflecting surfaces, inter-reflection will reduce the effective
screening. Parallel acoustic fencing would constitute a pair of
reflecting surfaces, as would a cut with near-vertical concrete
walls. If the segment is within a retained cut or between parallel
barriers the user should select YES. If it is not then NO should be
selected.

NO

YES
Selecting YES will request information describing the geometry of
the retained cutting or dual barriers.
The meaning of the parameters should be clear from the diagram
below. Here, as elsewhere in NoiseMap, the left side is the side
which is on the left when facing in the direction that the element
(ie the road segment) is entered.
Absorbent surfaces
6:14

NO

YES
Road Noise Modelling: Segments
Road Noise Modelling: Segments
6:15
If there are absorbent surfaces within the cutting, either in the
form of absorbent noise barriers, grassed or landscaped areas,
select YES in this box.
Left hand cut - top
distance (TCL)
The next four parameters relate to the details of the left-hand
edge of the cutting. This parameter is the plan distance from the
segment line, or centre line of the road, to the top left hand edge
of the cutting, in metres.
Bottom distance (BCL)
This parameter is the plan distance from the segment line to the
bottom left hand edge of the cutting, in metres.
Angle of left retaining wall
(AGL)
This parameter is the vertical angle of the left hand retaining
wall, commonly around 3o.
Depth of left retaining
wall (DEL)
This parameter is the vertical depth of the left hand retaining
wall, in metres.
Right hand cut top
distance (TCR)
The next four parameters relate to the details of the right hand
edge of the cutting. This parameter is the plan distance from the
segment line, or centre-line of the road, to the top right hand
edge of the cutting, in metres.
Right hand cut bottom
distance (BCR)
This parameter is the plan distance from the segment line to the
bottom right hand edge of the cutting, in metres.
Angle of right-hand
retaining wall (AGR)
This parameter is the vertical angle of the right hand retaining
wall, commonly around 3o.
Depth of right-hand
retaining wall (DER)
This parameter is the vertical depth of the right hand retaining
wall in metres.
When you have completed this screen, click OK to return to the
segment properties page, and click OK again.
NEXT SEGMENT
At this point, all the data needed to define the segment has now
been entered.
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If you have entered a number of segments in a chain, and all the
segments have the same properties (except for geographical
position) you can click Apply and the properties will be
assigned to all the selected segments. If you click Discard,
then any changes you have made revert back to their previous
values.
Alternatively, you can scroll through the segments by clicking the
forward and backward buttons at the bottom of the dialogue box,
or by keying Shift+ or Shift+  . You will now be presented
with the segments properties screen for the next segment.
Proceed in the same way as for the first segment. You will notice
that some of the properties are already filled in, since they have
been ‘chained’ from the previous segment. You can edit these
values as necessary.
6:16
Road Noise Modelling: Segments
Site Noise Modelling: Starting The Software
7:1
7. SITE NOISE MODELLING
STARTING THE SOFTWARE
For an explanation of the structure of a SiteNoise model,
including the plant list, the activity list, categories and scenarios,
please see Structure of a SiteNoise Model, p 3:4
Before you start SiteNoise, you will need to create a database
that is enabled for SiteNoise/ RoadNoise/ RailNoise. The current
database administrator tool (v.0.9.10 or above) will do this. Old
RoadNoise-only databases cannot store the information used by
SiteNoise and RailNoise.
Start the software and connect to a suitable database in the
normal way, as described in Chapter 4 of this manual.
If this database already contains the geographical data (for
example, it already has a road traffic noise model in it), then you
can proceed to add plant, activities and workings as described in
the following sections of this manual. If not, then first create the
geographical model, in one of the many ways as described in
this manual.
ADDING PLANT DATA
Select Parameters, Plant manager from the menu and the
Plant Manager dialogue will open. Click the Add Plant
button or double click on the in the purple box reading Enter
new plant name or ID … . You can now type a Name or
Description for the plant in this box.
Source type
Then Tab to the Source Type box. Select the drop-down list in
this box and choose:

LAeq at 10 m; or

LAmax at 10 m; or

Sound Power Level (A-weighted).
according to the source data that you have for this item.
Hint: Choosing source parameter. Sound Power Level is the
preferred parameter as this is equally applicable to stationary or moving
sources. For haul roads, do not use LAeq because this will not be be
corrected for the number of vehicles or speed. LAmax can be used, but
ensue that it is a typical value and not an absolute maximum which
could lead to over-prediction.
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Then tab to the next box and enter the A-weighted Leq, LAmax or
sound power level.
Plant manager
Height of source within
plant
You also need to enter the height of the noise source within the
item of plant. For a large piece of earth-moving equipment, this
might be 1.5 m, for example. For a road-going vehicle, it might
be 0.5 m. For a small item such as a fan, it might be 0 m. Note
that this is not the actual height of the item of plant in the noise
model: that is given by the working location.
Noise Spectrum
If you have the octave band noise spectrum of the plant, you can
enter it in the nine boxes provided.
Repeat the procedure to add any number of additional items of
plant.
Plant data and scenarios
Plant data is not fixed to a particular scenario. The same plant
data will be available in every scenario that you create.
If you change the sound level of an item of plant, this will affect
every scenario in which it is used. Therefore, if you want to
substitute an item of plant for a quieter item so that you can
repeat a calculation to see the difference it makes, you should
add the quieter plant to the list as a new item.
You can then navigate to the relevant scenario and use the Find
function to locate the plant items and change them in that one
scenario.
IMPORTING AND EXPORTING PLANT DATA
Plant data can be exported to a comma-separated (CSV) file
which can then be imported into other noise models. You can
also create a plant data file in CSV format for general use, saving
you having to create a new file for each noise model. See Export
Plant, p 12:7, or export a file to see the format.
7:2
Site Noise Modelling: Importing And Exporting Plant Data
Site Noise Modelling: Adding Activities
7:3
ADDING ACTIVITIES
Each SiteNoise Model only contains one list of activities, but the
properties of the activity (including the plant that it uses) can be
different in each scenario. However, you may wish to set up the
principal activities in the base scenario as this means that the
activity is available for use in all child scenarios. An activity is
only used when it is assigned to one or more working locations
in a given scenario. Different activities can be assigned to
different working locations in each scenario. Select
Parameters, Activity manager from the menu and the
Activity Manager dialogue will open. Click the Add
Activity button or double click in the blue box reading
Enter new activity name or ID … . You can now type
a Name or Description for the activity in this box.
Activity manager
Now tab to the Plant ID/Name box and select a required item of
plant from the drop down list (Note: the list shows the items of
plant you entered in the Plant Manager dialogue).
Now tab to the Plant type and select Stationary, Mobile or Haul
from the list, according to the type of plant and activity.
Next, select the Category. If you haven’t set up any Categories,
then you will only be offered 1:Default.
Next, select percentage on-time, Speed (km/h) and Flow rate
(vehicles / hour). Note: speed and flow are only used for haul
activities.
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You can now add another item of plant to the activity, by
clicking on ‘Select new plant’ and repeating this process.
Note that if you have chosen the plant type as Stationary, you
can only add other stationary plant to this activity and you can
only put the activity at a fixed working location.
If you have chosen Haul or Mobile, you can add other moving
plant to the activity, but you will only be able to put the activity
at a Route type of working location.
When you have added all the plant required for this activity, you
can then double-click on Enter new activity name or
ID to add another activity.
Assigning activities to
working locations
When you have created some activities, you need to assign them
to the locations where they will be operating. You do this from
the Working Locations dialogue which is described in the
following section. When an activity has been assigned to one or
more working locations in the current scenario, then activity
details are bolded in the Activity Manager and the number of
locations where the activity is used will be shown under the
column headed Use. Any activity can be assigned to any number
of working locations. To see where these activities are located,
click the Select Workings button at the bottom of the
window.
ADDING WORKING LOCATIONS
You will now need to add working locations to the geographical
model, if you have not already done so.
Add objects
7:4
Site Noise Modelling: Adding Working Locations
Site Noise Modelling: Putting Activities Into Working Locations
You add these from the Add Object menu (or the green “+”
toolbar button). For SiteNoise, you have two types of working
locations:

Route Segments – for moving plant, and

Fixed Workings – for stationary plant.
Moving plant includes plant travelling as on a haul road, at a
defined speed and number of movements per hour, and ‘mobile
plant on site’ which moves more randomly over a limited area.
You can have both types of moving plant on a route segment.
[Note: Do not use Road Segments for SiteNoise Haul Roads –
these are used only for highway-type roads to be calculated by
the CRTN method.]
Select the type of working location that you wish to add. You
can also choose to get the height of the location automatically
from the NoiseMap Ground Model by checking the
Automatically generate height button. Then click OK
to return to the graphical screen.
[Note: if the object you wish to add is greyed out in this
dialogue, either your licence does not include SiteNoise, or the
object type has been set to ’Grey’ or ‘Off’ in the display options
menu.]
You can now add the working locations to the model by clicking
at the required position with the mouse. To terminate the string
of locations, right-click the mouse. If you have been adding
route segments, the string of segments will be selected and the
Multiple Route Segment Properties dialogue will
open. This enables you to modify the properties of these
working locations and to add activities to them. You can add
activities at this point, as explained next, or at a later stage if
more convenient.
When you have finished editing the segments, click the Apply
button or key F9 to finalise the changes.
PUTTING ACTIVITIES INTO WORKING LOCATIONS
The next step is to put activities into the working locations. Select
the working locations where the activity is to be positioned and
open the Selected Object Properties dialogue.
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Working location properties
At the bottom of the dialogue is a section on Working Activities,
with a purple line stating Select Activity to Add. Click
on this and select from the drop-down list the activity you wish
to assign to the currently-selected locations.
The above dialog shows a selected route segment working with
the activities assigned to it, in the bottom section Working
Activities.
The activity Spoil removal has two items of plant, a Dump truck
and a lorry.
MULTIPLE WORKING
LOCATIONS
You can assign an activity to many working locations at once.
Select all the locations where you want the activity to take place.
All the activities currently assigned to these locations will be
listed in the Multiple Working property box. Those shown in
italic are not currently assigned to all the selected locations, but
you can do so by clicking on the activity name in the Working
Property box and selecting Assign to all selected workings.
Removing activities
The activity Water Bowser has only one item of plant, the Water
Bowser. Note that by highlighting this activity, the option to
remove it is given.
7:6
Site Noise Modelling: Putting Activities Into Working Locations
Site Noise Modelling: Importing And Exporting Activities
7:7
Changing the properties of
an activity
When you first add an activity to a location, its properties will be
those you entered when you created the activity. However, you
can change any property for each working location.
Click on the value you wish to change and then select Override.
You can then change the value and the new value will override
the original value for the chosen segments in this scenario.
You can expand any activity to see details of individual items of
plant by clicking on the + sign at the left.
Navigation
When you create a line of route segments by clicking at a
number of points in a continuous chain, NoiseMap remembers
this chain, and you can navigate along it by clicking the forward
and backward arrow buttons in the Object Properties dialogue,
or by using the shift and arrow cursor keys. This will also work
when you have selected a number of objects that are not
physically chained, such as stationary workings.
If you want to apply the same change to a number of objects that
are joined in a chain, you can select any object in the chain, and
then select the rest of the chain with CRTL+R. Or you can select
from the current object to the end of the chain with Ctrl+T, or to
the start of the chain with Ctrl+Shift+T.
IMPORTING AND EXPORTING ACTIVITIES
You can import and export activities and their working locations
using spreadsheets such as Excel or other sources. This uses the
CSV (comma-separated values) format, and appears as follows in
Excel. [To see the CSV layout, export an activity file and open it
in a text editor such as NotePad.]
ACTNUM ACTNAME
PLANTNUM PLANTTYPE
1 Theresa Hse Soft strip - fixed
1 APT_STATIONARY
2 Theresa Hse Soft strip - mobile
6 APT_MOBILE
2
3 APT_MOBILE
2
7 APT_HAUL
CAT ONTIME SPEED FLOW WORKINGS
20
100
0
0
6
22
4
0
0
2,3,7
22
26
0
0
22
20
15
4
Activity import format
The header row is optional, and the data columns must be in the
order shown. The data is as follows:
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual

ACTNUM - activity ID number of your choice; if you repeat
the activity number in following rows, this adds extra plant
items to the activity. If the activity number already appears in
the loaded scenario, then the imported activity data will
replace the existing activity data.

ACTNAME – your name for the activity; if the name is
different from that already loaded, the imported name will
replace it. If you are using a number of rows to put several
items of plant into one activity, you can leave this name
blank in following rows.
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
PLANTNUM – ID number of plant from current plant list; an
error will occur if that ID number is not already in the plant
list.

PLANTTYPE – activity type – stationary, haul or mobile;

CAT – category to be given to this activity; the category
number must already be in the Category Parameter list.

ONTIME - % of assessment period that this plant is making
noise;

SPEED – speed of plant (used on haul road only)

FLOW – number of pass-bys of this plant per hour (haul road
only)

WORKINGS – an optional comma-separated list of all the
Working IDs at which this activity is to be located (in the
current scenario); the Working IDs must already be located in
the currently-loaded tiles. If you have entered an activity
number more than once (to assign multiple items of plant to
the activity), only the first of these entries may assign the
working locations. See below for program options if this
column or list is omitted.
IMPORTING ACTIVITIES
INTO AN EXISTING NOISE
MODEL
There are three options:

import activities and assign working locations;

import activities but inherit working assignments from parent;

import activities but do not inherit working assignments from
parent;
Importing activities with
working locations
NoiseMap normally assumes that when you import an activity
file into a scenario, that file fully defines all the activities and
their working locations for the scenario. If any activities are
already assigned to working locations, these assignments are
deleted. If you want to keep some existing assignments, you
could first export the activity file and then make the required
changes to the exported file before re-importing it. You cannot
assign activities to working locations without also fully defining
the activity.
This means that any inheritance of activity
properties from the parent scenario will be lost.
When you import an activity file, any activity ID numbers that do
not already appear in the list of activities will be added, along
with any assignment to working locations given in the imported
file. If the activity ID number already appears, then all of its
properties will be changed to those just imported. Any previous
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Site Noise Modelling: Importing And Exporting Activities
Site Noise Modelling: Presentation Of Workings And Activities On Graphical Screen
7:9
plant or working assignments will be lost as are inherited
properties.
Any existing activities that do not appear in the imported list will
be unchanged, except that any assignment to working locations
in the current scenario will be deleted. These activities retain
their inherited properties.
Import activities but
inherit working
assignments from parent
To inherit working assignments from the parent, omit the
WORKINGS header and all working assignments from the import
file. Only the activities are then changed.
Import activities but do
not inherit working
assignments from parent
If the WORKINGS header is present, then all existing workings
assignments are removed and only those in the imported file will
be used.
PRESENTATION OF WORKINGS AND ACTIVITIES ON GRAPHICAL SCREEN
Presentation of fixed workings on-screen
SiteNoise model showing Fixed workings (in blue), with one of
them selected (highlighted). [NB part of a Road is also shown at
bottom.]
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Presentation of route workings on-screen
SiteNoise model showing Fixed and Route workings. The arrows
on the Route workings, show that a Haul activity has been
assigned. [NB part of a Road is also shown at bottom.]
In later versions of SiteNoise, fixed workings use a circular
symbol. You can change the size of both fixed and route
workings by selecting View>Display options from the menu and
under the Types View tab going to Working Options.
Presentation of fixed and route workings with activities assigned
SiteNoise model showing Fixed and Route workings. Route
workings with a Haul activity have arrows; route workings with a
Mobile activity have ovals; route workings with both haul and
mobile activities have both ovals and arrows. These symbols may
not appear on very short segments. The dotted outline shows a
selected route segment. [NB part of a Road is also shown at
bottom.]
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Site Noise Modelling: Presentation Of Workings And Activities On Graphical Screen
Site Noise Modelling: Assigning Categories
7:11
ASSIGNING CATEGORIES
You will often want to know how much noise is coming from
individual items of plant or activities on the site. This is helpful
when you need to find ways to reduce noise, or when you know
that a certain activity will only be present for a short time and
can then be excluded from the noise model.
You can do this by giving each item of plant, or each activity, a
category number. If you don’t want to do this, then by default,
NoiseMap puts all plant and activities into Category number 1.
To use the Category system, select Parameters, Edit
Categories from the menu and the Category Parameters
dialogue opens:
Category parameters
In the above example, four categories (numbered 1, 2, 5 and 10)
have been set up. These were added by clicking the Add Node
button. [The term Node is a vestige of earlier NoiseMap
terminology, and means the same as Category.] Each of these
categories represents an activity or a group of activities and can
be given a name in the ‘Node description’ box, which is stored
by clicking Update Text.
Then, combinations of activities are set up by clicking the Add
Combo button, typing in a name for the combination, and
clicking Update Name. The categories to be included in that
combination are added to the Selected Categories list by
selecting them in the right-hand box labelled All Categories
and clicking the <- Add button. In the above example,
category 10 is Wind Turbines. Categories 5 and 10 have been
included in a Category Combination called Wind Farm.
You are limited to a maximum of 100 categories and 30 category
combinations. Note: categories and combinations are Global, ie
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there is only one set of categories and combinations and this one
set applies to all scenarios. You cannot have different categories
or combinations in different scenarios, although activities could
belong to different categories in different scenarios.
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Site Noise Modelling: Assigning Categories
Rail Noise Modelling: Starting The Software
8:1
8. RAIL NOISE MODELLING
STARTING THE SOFTWARE
Before you start RailNoise, you will need to create a database
that is enabled for RailNoise/ RoadNoise/ SiteNoise. The current
database administrator tool (v.0.9.11 or above) will do this.
Old RoadNoise-only databases cannot store the information used
by RailNoise and SiteNoise. If you connect to a database that
does not support RailNoise, then the RailNoise options will be
either greyed out or absent.
Start the software and connect to a suitable database in the
normal way, as described in Section 3 of the NoiseMap User
Reference Manual.
If this database already contains the geographical data (for
example, it already has a road traffic noise model in it), then you
can proceed to add train vehicles, train services and tracks as
described in the following sections of this manual. If not, then
create the geographical model, in one of the many ways as
described in the NoiseMap User Reference Manual.
ADDING RAILWAY TRAIN VEHICLE DATA
Select Parameters, Train vehicle manager from the
menu and the Train Vehicle Manager dialogue will open.
Click the Add vehicle button or double click on the in the
purple box reading Enter new vehicle name or ID … .
You can now type a Name or Description for the train vehicle in
this box.
Vehicle type
Then Tab to the Vehicle Type box. Select the drop-down list in
this box and choose from

Vehicle/electric loco; or

Diesel loco; or

Eurostar fan noise.
Then tab to the next box and enter the vehicle correction (Veh.
Corr) as defined in Calculation of Railway Noise (CRN).
If the vehicle is a diesel loco, you need to enter both the rolling
noise (Veh. Corr) and the on-power noise corrections (Pwr. Veh.
Corr).
[The source height and source correction values are only
required for CRTL (TNPM) calculations, see separate guide.]
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Train vehicle manager
Train vehicle data and
scenarios
Train vehicle data is the same in every scenario that you create.
When you have entered the train vehicle data, the same data will
be seen in all scenarios. You cannot change it for particular
scenarios.
If you change any of the values for a train vehicle, this will affect
every scenario in which it is used. Thus, if for example, you want
to substitute a train vehicle for a quieter item so that you can
repeat a calculation to see the difference it makes, you should
add the quieter train vehicle to the list as a new item.
You can then navigate to the relevant scenario and use the Find
function to locate the train vehicle items and change them in that
one scenario.
IMPORTING TRAIN
VEHICLES
You can import train vehicle data from a CSV file that has been
prepared in a spreadsheet. Select Import, Train vehicles
from the menu. Alternatively, use the Script interface. The
spreadsheet must be in the correct format, see Export Train
Vehicles for more information.
ADDING TRAIN SERVICES
Select Parameters, Train Service manager from the
menu and the Train Service Manager dialogue will open.
Click the Add Service button or double click on the in the
purple box reading Enter new service name or ID … .
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Rail Noise Modelling: Adding Train Services
Rail Noise Modelling: Adding Train Services
8:3
You can now type a Name or Description for the service in this
box.
Now tab to the Select vehicle box and select a required train
vehicle from the drop down list (Note: the list shows the train
vehicles that you entered in the Train Vehicle Manager
dialogue).
Now select the Category from the drop-down list. If you haven’t
set up any Categories, then you will only be offered 1:Default.
Next, enter the number of cars (Carriages), Speed (km/h) and
Flow rate (vehicles / assessment period). The assessment period
shown is that set in the Calculation Parameters window –
CRN Rail Calculations, Measurement time.
Finally, select whether the vehicle is on-power or off-power as
the initial (default) condition [the information is only used for
diesel locomotives].
You can now add more train vehicles to the service, by clicking
on ‘Select vehicle’ and repeating this process.
When you have added all the train vehicles required for this
service, you can then double-click on Enter new service
name or ID to add another service.
Train service manager
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ADDING SEGMENTS OF TRACK
Add track segments
You will now need to add segments of track to the geographical
model, if you have not already done so. You add these from the
Add Object menu (or the green “+” toolbar button). For
RailNoise, select:

Track Segments
[Note: Do not use Road or Route Segments for RailNoise tracks
– these are for highway-type roads or site-type segments to be
calculated by the CRTN or BS5228 methods.]
[Note also: if Track Segments are greyed out, then either your
licence does not include RailNoise or Rail Tracks are set to
‘Grey’ or ‘Off’ in the Display Options menu.]
You can choose to get the height of the tracks automatically from
the NoiseMap Ground Model by checking the Automatically
generate height button. Then click OK to return to the
graphical screen.
If you do not choose to get the height of the tracks automatically
when you are putting them in, you can still get their heights
later, by selecting the relevant segment and then clicking on the
Select method to calculate height box and
choosing the method. This automatically calculates the height.
You can now add the segments of track to the model by clicking
at the required position with the mouse. To terminate the string
of locations, right-click the mouse. The string of segments will
be selected and the Multiple
Track
Segment
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Rail Noise Modelling: Adding Segments Of Track
Rail Noise Modelling: Adding Segments Of Track
8:5
Properties dialogue will open. This enables you to modify
the properties of these segments of track and to add train services
to them. You can do this at this point, as explained next, or at a
later stage if more convenient.
Maximum speed
A new feature is that you can now enter the maximum speed for
each segment of track. All train services will be limited to this
maximum, when a higher speed was assigned to the service
directly, either in the Train Service Manager, or on the Train
Service properties for the segment of track. To apply a maximum
speed, tick the checkbox and enter the required speed limit.
When you have finished editing the segments, click the Apply
button or key F9 to finalise the changes.
Track segment properties
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PUTTING TRAIN SERVICES
INTO SEGMENTS OF TRACK
The next step is to put train services into the segments of track.
Select the locations where the service is to be positioned and
open the Selected Object Properties dialogue.
At the bottom of the dialogue is a section on Track Services, with
a purple line stating Select Service to Insert. Click on
this and from the drop-down list, select the service you wish to
assign to the currently-selected locations.
The above dialog shows a selected route segment working with
the train services assigned to it. You can show just summary
details of each service, or by clicking on the + sign at the left,
you can expand to show the full details.
Symbols used in Track
Services window
In the summary line, if some of the train vehicle details are not
identical (for example there may be one locomotive and many
carriages), the number of cars (carriages) will show - - - to
indicate this. Also, where a service property has been changed
from the default value, this is shown in bold type.
It will also be noted that certain of the properties can only be set
in the summary line, for example the speed and flow rate, since
it is assumed that trains remain coupled in a unit. Also, the
power setting can only be set in the summary line. This setting is
only applied to any diesel locomotives in the service, but it is
assumed that they would all have the same power setting.
Removing train services
To remove a train service from a track, highlight (select) the track
on the screen then select the service in the Track Service section
of the Object Properties dialogue. The option to remove the
service can then be selected from the drop-down list.
Changing the properties of
a train service
When you first add an service to a location, its properties will be
those you entered when you created the service. However, you
can change certain properties (such as the speed) on each
segment of track.
Click on the value you wish to change and then select Override.
You can then change the value and the new value will override
the original value for the chosen segments in this scenario.
Properties that have been changed from the default are shown in
bold type.
You can expand any service to see details of individual train
vehicles by clicking on the + sign at the left.
Navigation along chains
When you originally create a line of track segments by clicking at
a number of points in a continuous chain, NoiseMap remembers
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Rail Noise Modelling: Adding Segments Of Track
Rail Noise Modelling: Presentation Of Railway Tracks On Graphical Screen
this chain, and you can navigate along it by clicking the forward
and backward arrow buttons in the Object Properties dialogue,
or by using the shift and arrow cursor keys.
If you want to apply the same change to a number of objects that
are joined in a chain, you can select any object in the chain, and
then select the rest of the chain with CRTL+R. Or you can select
from the current object to the end of the chain with Ctrl+T, or to
the start of the chain with Ctrl+Shift+T.
PRESENTATION OF RAILWAY TRACKS ON GRAPHICAL SCREEN
Presentation of railway tracks on graphical screen
RailNoise model showing Tracks, with one of them selected
(shown with a dotted outline).
ASSIGNING CATEGORIES
You will often want to know how much noise is coming from
individual sections of track or train services on the railway. This
is helpful when you need to know the contribution of a new
service, for example, or when investigating ways of reducing
noise.
You can do this by giving each train vehicle, or each service, a
category number. If you don’t want to do this, then by default,
NoiseMap puts all train vehicles and train services into Category
number 1.
To use the Category system, select Parameters, Edit
Categories from the menu and the Category Parameters
dialogue opens:
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Category parameters in RailNoise
In the above example, seven categories have been set up. These
are added by clicking the Add Node button. Each of these
categories represents an individual train service.
Then, combinations of train services are set up by clicking the
Add Combo button, typing in a name for the combination, and
clicking Update Name. Then the categories to be included in
that combination are selected in the left-hand box labelled
Selected Categories. In the above example, categories 1 to 7
have been selected so as to include all the train services.
[Note: the Move Up and Move Down buttons are not available
in the current version of NoiseMap.]
RAILNOISE CALCULATIONS
Once you have set up the RailNoise model, you can undertake
noise calculations either at individual receiver points or of noise
contours, using various methodologies which are described in
the later chapters of this manual.
8:8
Rail Noise Modelling: Railnoise Calculations
Scenarios: Scenarios Explained
9:1
9. SCENARIOS
SCENARIOS EXPLAINED
Scenarios let you model many different situations in one
database. For example you may wish to study a base case and
one or more future scheme options. Each of these cases would
be a separate scenario in NoiseMap.
A NoiseMap model can contain any number of scenarios, and
each scenario can cover any number of map tiles. [There are
system limits but these are not a constraining factor in normal
cases.]
Quite often, you will be investigating a scenario that only differs
from the base case in one or two geographical locations. For
example, the base scenario might contain a road scheme with
cuttings and embankments, but without any purpose-built noise
barriers. Another scenario might be the same as this base, but
with the addition of noise barriers in some locations.
In this situation, the ‘with barrier’ scenario is the same as the
base scenario except in the small number of tiles where noise
barriers have been added.
Parent and Child Scenarios
NoiseMap automatically keeps track of the differences between
the ‘parent’ scenario (in this case the ‘without-barrier’ scenario)
and the ‘child’ scenario (in this case the ‘with-barrier’ scenario).
It only saves the objects (in this case the barriers) that are
different between the parent and child scenarios. This greatly
reduces the size of models when comparing different cases. This
is important for efficient data handling when models cover large
areas and have a great deal of mapping information in them.
Just as importantly, if changes are made to common objects
(those used in many scenarios, such as the existing building
layouts) in the parent scenario, then these changes will appear in
all the child scenarios as well.
Adding new scenarios
You can add as many new scenarios to an existing database as
you wish. All that you do to create a new scenario is to select
‘Commit changes’ from the file menu, and choose to save to a
new scenario. In fact, it is not necessary for there to have been
any changes when you create the new scenario.
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Removing scenarios
Unwanted scenarios can be hidden from view, see Scenario
Manager, below. For advice on Simplifying Scenarios, see also
Copying Scenarios, below
Tiles that are not loaded
It is probable that when you are editing a model – perhaps to
add noise barriers, as mentioned in our example above – you
will only have loaded the tiles you are working on, maybe with
one or two additional tiles to help you to see the area.
NoiseMap remembers which tiles contain the new or altered
objects. It assumes that tiles that were not loaded are not affected
in the new scenario, and so if you later choose to download one
of these unaffected tiles, NoiseMap will supply the tile from the
parent scenario, which is the scenario that was loaded when you
first created the new scenario. If you then make changes to one
of these previously unaffected tiles, it will be added to the list of
files affected by the scenario.
SCENARIO MANAGER
The Database Previewer is the main user interface with the
database. It shows the Scenario Tree and allows you to load
your selected parts of the noise model. However, the Scenario
Manager lets you:

View the Scenario tree

Hide unwanted scenarios

Hide entire branches of the scenario tree

Rename scenarios

Read and modify the description of a scenario

View contents of a scenario
When you have been working on a project for some time, you
may have created many scenarios that you no longer require.
Superseded scenarios cannot be removed because of the
complexities surrounding the origin of objects. Hiding a
scenario lets you use the previewer without having to scroll
through superseded scenarios.
Renaming lets you choose a more suitable name or even just
correct a typing error. The description of a scenario can be used
to remind you of particulars, or even as to why you have hidden
a scenario. The further details allow you to see how many tiles
contain objects specific to the scenario, whilst the Noise Contour
and Receiver Result Tiles indicate what calculations have been
performed.
Copying scenarios
If you wish to simplify a scenario tree, you export the scenario of
interest as a NoiseMap archive and then import this archive into
9:2
Scenarios: Scenario Manager
Scenarios: Rules Of Inheritance
9:3
a new database. However, you can only export a single scenario
– inheritance information from parent and to child scenarios is
not retained.
You can use the same method if you wish to make a copy of part
of a database. Use the database previewer to select the scenario
of interest and then load the tiles that cover the area of interest.
Then export the loaded tiles as an archive (File, Export
Archive). You can then load the archive into a new database.
RULES OF INHERITANCE
The usual way to create a new scenario is to load an existing
scenario, make some changes to it, and then save (commit) these
changes to a new ‘child’ scenario, thus leaving the original
(parent) scenario unchanged. [However, you can create a new
scenario by loading a scenario and then saving it as a new
scenario without making any changes at that stage.]
Whenever you create a new scenario, only the objects that you
changed or added will be different from those in the parent
scenario, and it is only those differences that are saved in the
database. The rest of the objects are ‘inherited’ from the parent
scenario.
Later, you may choose to make changes to objects in the parent
scenario. If you change an object in a parent scenario, then
usually the changes you make will also appear in any child
scenarios.
However, when you edit an object in the child scenario, then
this breaks the chain of inheritance from its parent. Once the
chain of inheritance is broken, any subsequent changes you
make in the parent object are no longer carried down to the
child.
This is the normal action you would expect: a child scenario
might represent a different phase of development of a scheme,
with the segments of road, track, etc., in different places. So if
you move the position of a road in a child scenario, you would
not want its position to be altered again if you later adjust its
position in the parent scenario.
As a further example, if you add more receiver points in a parent
scenario, you would normally want these additional receiver
points to appear in the child scenario as well. (If you don’t, then
you would have to delete them from the child scenario.)
These rules of inheritance are built into NoiseMap and cannot be
altered by the user.
However, some objects such as train vehicles, train services,
plant and activities can be used over many scenarios covering a
wide area, and therefore for these objects it is necessary to give
the user more control over the rules of inheritance.
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The following section explains this in more detail.
GEOGRAPHICAL OBJECTS
Most of the information in a scenario is specific geographical
information that is located in specific tiles of the model. For this
type of information, changes between scenarios are made by
loading the tiles, editing them, and saving the changes to a new
scenario.
Geographical information is local to a tile and scenario – if you
make any change to a geographical object (such as a road, a
segment of track, ground contours, barriers or receiver points), it
will affect that scenario and all the children of that scenario.
However, if you change the properties of a geographical object
in a child scenario, this breaks the chain of inheritance. This
means that any subsequent changes to that object in the parent
will no longer appear in the child or its descendants. This
remains true even if you change the properties of the child back
to be the same as the parent – once the chain of inheritance is
broken, it cannot be restored.
Root scenario
To help you to see how far back the inheritance goes, you can
use the View as colour Inheritance option. This shows the root
scenario for each object in the current scenario (ie the scenario
where the current properties of the object were entered.)
INFORMATION NOT SPECIFIC TO PARTICULAR TILES OR SCENARIOS
As described in the preceding section, most information in a
noise model is specific either to a particular tile (such as the
location of a road segment) or a particular scenario (such as a
traffic flow) and is therefore ‘local’ to that tile or scenario. Its
current value could have been inherited from a parent, but it
would be possible to change it to a different value for any
particular tile or scenario.
However, some information cannot sensibly be limited to a
particular tile or scenario, because confusion would arise if
different settings applied to different tiles or scenarios. For
example, there could be confusion if different tiles in a given
scenario were calculated with different cut-off distances or
Barrier Level Adjustment settings, because it might be difficult to
find out which values were used for each tile, without checking
them all.
To avoid such problems, certain information is made the same in
all scenarios in the database and is known as ‘global’
information.
Global information specifically includes:
9:4

Calculation control parameters

Barrier Level Adjustment Settings
Scenarios: Information Not Specific To Particular Tiles Or Scenarios
Scenarios: Information Not Specific To Particular Tiles Or Scenarios

Categories and combinations

Site plant definitions

Site Activity definitions

Train vehicle definitions

Train service definitions
The following section explains how NoiseMap handles these
global objects.
CALCULATION PARAMETERS
If you make changes to the calculation parameters, you can save
these to the database, and they will not ‘invalidate’ any contours
already calculated, because the calculation settings are stored
with the contour information. However, NoiseMap will only
store one version of a contour per scenario (to avoid
accumulating superseded contours) so if you need to save the
results of different calculation settings, you should set up
different scenarios for the purpose.
Nevertheless, you should be very careful when making changes
to the calculation settings when a project is underway, and
particularly if several people are working on it, as this could
cause different tiles to be inadvertently calculated with different
settings. If you are making changes to the calculation settings for
test purposes, you would be advised to use the ‘Set for Session’
option.
BARRIER HEIGHT
ADJUSTMENTS
NoiseMap allows noise barriers to be assigned to a different set
of barrier height adjustments in each scenario. However, the
amount of each barrier height adjustment is ‘global’ – in other
words a single set of adjustments applies to all tiles in all
scenarios. You cannot have different amounts of adjustment for
each scenario.
RAILNOISE OBJECTS
Train vehicle definitions
Train vehicle definitions are global to all tiles and all scenarios –
any change to a train vehicle definition in any tile or scenario
will affect all other places that the train vehicle is used. If you
want to make changes to a train vehicle for just one scenario,
you will need to enter it as a new train vehicle.
Service definitions
When you create train services (by using the Service Manager)
you select the train vehicles to be used in the service and enter
initial values for the train vehicle category, speed, flow rate and
power setting. These initial values are called default values in
RailNoise.
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These default values will be used whenever you apply a service
to a segment of track unless you override them. If you change
the default values in Service Manager, the new values will
appear in all workings where you are using the default values.
Overriding default values
However, you can ‘override’ the default value in any specific
segment of track. To override a default value in any particular
location, you will need to load the tile and scenario concerned
and then enter the override values. Once you have overridden
the default value, changes to the default value will not affect the
override value. Overridden values are shown in bold.
You can override the default values both for individual train
vehicles and for the whole service. An override for the whole
service takes precedence over an override for an individual train
vehicle. Unlike geographical objects, you can revert to the
default value by cancelling the override.
By keeping service settings at their default values, you can make
‘global’ changes to service settings in the Service Manager.
These changes will affect all tiles and all scenarios that use the
default settings, without having to load them first.
You can apply a service only once to any segment of track, in
any one scenario. If you need to apply similar train services
more than once on a segment of track, you must create new train
services for the purpose.
SITENOISE OBJECTS
Plant definitions
Plant definitions are global to all tiles and all scenarios – any
change to a plant definition in any tile or scenario will affect all
other places that the plant is used. If you want to make changes
to an item of plant for just one scenario, you will need to enter it
as a new item of plant.
Activity definitions
When you create activities (by using the Activity Manager) you
select the items of plant to be used in the activity and enter initial
values for the plant category, on-time, speed and flow rate.
These initial values are called default values in SiteNoise.
These default values will be used whenever you apply an activity
to a working location unless you override them. If you change
the default values in Activity Manager, the new values will
appear in all workings where you are using the default values.
Overriding default values
However, you can ‘override’ the default value in any specific
working location. To override a default value in any particular
location, you will need to load the tile and scenario concerned
and then enter the override values. Once you have overridden
the default value, changes to the default value will not affect the
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Scenarios: Information Not Specific To Particular Tiles Or Scenarios
Scenarios: Information Not Specific To Particular Tiles Or Scenarios
overriding value. As a visual indicator, overriding values are
shown in bold.
Note that you can override the default values both for individual
plant and for the whole activity. An override for the whole
activity takes precedence over an override for an individual item
of plant.
By keeping activity settings at their default values, you can make
‘global’ changes to activity settings in the Activity Manager.
These changes will affect all tiles and all scenarios that use the
default settings, without having to load them first.
Note that unlike geographical objects, you can revert to the
default value by cancelling the override.
You can apply an activity only once to any working location, in
any one scenario. If you need to apply similar activities more
than once in a working location, you will need to create new
activities.
ROADNOISE OBJECTS
Roads
Road segments are local to a scenario. Any change to any
property of a road segment breaks the inheritance chain for that
road segment.
Traffic flows
Traffic flows are local to a scenario, but are common to all tiles.
This means that each scenario can have a different set of traffic
flow data, and that data will apply to all tiles in the scenario.
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Noise Contouring: Noise Contouring
10:1
10. NOISE CONTOURING
NOISE CONTOURING
INTRODUCTION TO
NOISEMAP FEATURES
NoiseMap has a different approach to noise contouring
compared with earlier versions of the software because you do
not use the mouse to delineate an area to be contoured. Instead,
NoiseMap calculates contours on a range of noise indexes for a
whole tile and stores the results in the database, where they are
saved for future use. You can then download the contours and
display them in many ways, and export them in a number of
formats.
In addition to calculating noise contours on your local machine,
with the remote server version of NoiseMap, you can add details
of the tiles to be contoured to a calculation queue held on the
server. Other machines can then be set to listen to the
calculation queue and to share in the calculation process. This
can greatly speed up the contouring of large areas.
This chapter describes the available options and how they are
used.
CALCULATE DATABASE NOISE CONTOURS
This option calculates noise contours and stores them directly
into the database. Database noise contours are calculated for a
full tile. If you wish to calculate a noise contour for a specific
area (which may cover part of a tile or parts of several tiles, use
the Calculate Contour option (if available in your version of the
software).
Before you start, you must Load the scenario for which you wish
to calculate the contour, (see Loading Tiles from Database, on
page 4:8).
Next, select Calculate, Calculate database contours
and then select the tiles you require by clicking with the mouse.
You can select many tiles by clicking and dragging the selection
rectangle over the area of interest. Alternatively, you can use the
list box to select all loaded tiles or any previously named area.
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Contour calculation options
Calculation method
Now select the calculation method selecting the appropriate item
from the drop-down list at the top of the dialogue box. The
calculation parameters that will be used for the calculation are
shown in the information area below the method selection box.
The Road calculation options only calculate for highway-type
road sources. Rail and Site sources have their own calculation
procedures. Choice of calculation method is discussed later in
this chapter.
Noise contour grid spacing
and calculation height
You must now choose the spacing of the calculation points
(typically 10 m) and the height of the contour above local ground
level (4 m for Environmental Noise Directive contours).
Surrounding Tiles
At this point, you can choose the surround margin of tiles that
will be included in the noise contour calculation, to avoid ‘edge
effects’. In areas close to major roads (say within 1 km) a
surround margin of two tiles is usually adequate. In areas which
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Noise Contouring: Calculate Database Noise Contours
Noise Contouring: Calculate Database Noise Contours
10:3
are distant from any major roads, a much wider surround will be
needed. Motorways can affect Lden at distances of 3 km. If you
are choosing a wide surround, you should also increase the cutoff distance, otherwise, roads will be excluded even where they
have been downloaded.
When your calculation starts, the appropriate tiles are first
downloaded from the database and then the calculation begins.
An indicator will show progress. If you have selected several
tiles to be noise contoured, then these will each be done
separately. For each tile, the appropriate surrounding tiles will
be downloaded and the noise contour will be calculated. When
that tile is completed, the result will be stored and the next tile
(and its surround) will then be downloaded.
Contour calculation resolution
Calculation precision
The calculation precision is now set as one of the general
calculation parameters.
CRTN requires ‘each stage’ in a
calculation to be rounded to 0.1 dB in the direction that gives the
higher noise level. This requirement is intended to reduce
differences between calculation procedures that work to different
levels of precision and to err in favour of the provision of noise
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insulation.
However, this procedure can also cause
discontinuities in the calculations which show up as jagged
contours. Selecting Calculate to full precision will
give smoother contours, but the results may differ slightly from
strict CRTN calculations as a result of these rounding effects.
Multiple category
combinations
You can calculate simultaneously the noise contours for any
number of previously-defined category combinations. Check the
boxes alongside the ones you wish to be calculated in the list
box before starting the calculations. Note that increasing the
number of combinations does not significantly increase
calculation time.
Re-calculate valid contours
Although invalid contours will always be recalculated, this tickbox allows you to recalculate valid contours as well. Invalid
contours are those where the model has been altered in the tile
to be displayed, or in any of the surrounding tiles that were used
when the contour was calculated.
Queue distributed
calculation
Clicking this button submits the contour calculation to the
Calculation Queue (Remote Server Version only). This allows
any machine that is listening to the calculation queue to
participate in noise contour calculation. Note that your machine
will not participate, however, as it is not listening to the
calculation queue (it cannot do this whilst you are using the local
computer to do other noise modelling tasks).
Perform local calculation
If you want the calculation to be done on your local machine (for
example because no other machines are listening to the
calculation queue, or are perhaps tied up in a long calculation)
then click the Local Calculation button.
Do you wish to load
calculated contours now?
When the calculations have been completed, you can load the
newly-calculated contours from the database, thus letting you
check the results.
The options for displaying noise contours are described in the
section on Contour Display Parameters, see page 10:9.
CHOICE OF CALCULATION METHOD
RoadNoise
The Road calculation options only calculate for highway-type
road sources. Rail and Site sources have their own calculation
procedures. For RoadNoise, the calculation will depend on the
periods covered by the traffic data – which can be 18-hour,
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Noise Contouring: Choice Of Calculation Method
Noise Contouring: Choice Of Calculation Method
10:5
day/evening night or 24 by 1-hour periods. Using this data, the
calculation options are:
RoadNoise CRTN All 2005: This calculates L10 using the
standard CRTN calculation method and then applies
adjustments to obtain Lden, Ld, Le, Ln, Leq 16-hour and Lden(ROI)
(Method A or B). The Lden calculation and its components are
calculated according to the method advised by Defra/TRL in
2005.
RoadNoise CRTN 2003: This calculates the same parameters
as RoadNoise 2005, but using the slightly different method
for converting L10 to Lden originally advised by Defra/TRL in
2003. It is retained for backward compatibility but should
not normally be used.
RoadNoise Leq – the Noise Advisory Council LAeq method.
This method does not give the same results for Leq as the
2005 method and is no longer widely used.
It is recommended to choose the RoadNoise CRTN 2005 method
in normal cases, as this also includes the CRTN L10 method.
The 2003 conversion method gives three methods, using hourly,
d/e/n or 18-hour traffic flows respectively. The method requires
the LA10 noise level for each segment to be calculated and then
converted to Ld/e/n using the appropriate formula, then all the
segment contributions are combined.
The 2005 method uses only method 3 (18-hour LA10 to Ld/e/n),
and requires the LA10 values for all non-motorway segments to be
combined and then converted to Ld/e/n, and all motorway
segments to be combined and converted to Ld/e/n and then
summed to give the noise level at the receptor.
In other words, the 2003 method converts the noise contribution
from each segment to Ld/e/n, whilst the 2005 method gets the
total noise level in LA10 and then converts it. Because the
conversion formula is linear in terms of noise levels whilst the
combination formula is logarithmic, this can result in slightly
different final noise levels.
Finally, it should be noted that the advice for the 2005 method is
to use method 3, ie 18-hour flows. In practice, little work has
been done using one-hour or period flows and users are advised
not to use one-hour or period flows without seeking advice from
NoiseMap Ltd.
NRA/RoI Method – The National Roads Authority of the
Republic of Ireland publishes Guidelines for the treatment of
Noise and Vibration in National Road Schemes. The current
version (published 25th October 2004) is based on the use of
CRTN with conversion formulae to give Lden, which is the noise
index used by NRA.
The Guidelines give two methods, A and B, for calculation of
Lden, with method A (the preferred method) requiring the
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calculation of 24 1-hour L10 values from 24 1-hour traffic flows,
and method B requiring the calculation of the L10 (18-hour) from
the 18-hour traffic flow. The Guidelines give formulae for
converting these values to Lden. Atkins has produced a research
paper which shows that when the NRA’s standard diurnal traffic
flow profile is used, Methods A and B produce very slightly
different results, but the Method B results can be converted to
Method A results by the application of a simple formula, to give
an identical result within calculation tolerances. This means that
it is unnecessary to enter the 24 1-hour traffic flows in order to
use Method A, as long as the standard traffic profile is applicable
(which is true in almost every situation).
RailNoise calculation
methods
There are three options for RailNoise calculations

CRN Leq – calculation of the Leq index in accordance with
‘Calculation of Railway Noise 1995’ and subsequent
addenda;

CRN Lmax – calculation of the Lmax index in accordance
with the TNPM system used for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link

CRN LAeq (TNPM) calculation of the Leq index in
accordance with the TNPM system used for the Channel
Tunnel Rail Link.
The TNPM methods are specialist procedures and full details are
given in a separate manual available from NoiseMap Ltd.
The Leq index uses the measurement time to be set via the
Parameter, Edit Calculation Parameter dialogue.
The same dialogue is used to set up the cut-off distances, angle of
view and calculation precision.
SiteNoise calculation
methods
SiteNoise calculations are made in accordance with
BS5228:1997. Various enhancements to the standard method
can be selected via the Parameter, Edit Calculation
Parameter dialogue. These are described in a separate manual
available from NoiseMap Ltd. The same dialogue is used to set
up the cut-off distances, angle of view and calculation precision.
COMPARE DATABASE CONTOURS
NoiseMap has powerful facilities for comparing any two
contours saved in the database. This lets you find the differences
between two scenarios, or between two contours (say day and
night) and you can also add together two situations. However,
you cannot save the results of a comparison as a new situation.
Select Calculate, Compare database contours from the
menu. You will be presented with a dialogue box asking you to
select the tiles you wish to compare. You can select the tiles
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Noise Contouring: Compare Database Contours
Noise Contouring: Load Database Noise Contours
10:7
with the mouse or from a previously-named area. You are then
presented with a list of all the scenarios common to all the tiles
you have selected. Highlight the scenarios you wish to compare.
You will be shown the category combinations that apply to all
the selected scenarios. Highlight the category combinations you
wish to compare. If you have calculated contours at different
resolutions (grid spacings), you will also have the option to
selected the resolution you require. Note that you can only
compare contours that have been calculated at the same
resolution. When you click OK, you will be presented with the
list of scenarios and category combinations that you selected.
Your options are to:

Add the noise contours logarithmically (decibel addition)

Subtract contour 2 from contour 1 and show the difference
Select the required scenario and category combination, and the
right-hand window will show the available noise contours.
Select the ones that you wish to compare and click OK.
You may also choose to select only valid contours and to
interpolate null results within buildings. The effect of these
options is described below.
You may also select a noise floor. This is to prevent spurious
differences in noise levels being shown in areas beyond the
useful area of the model that are dominated by ambient noise. A
typical noise floor might be 30 dB, for example.
The values will be retrieved from the database and the
comparison will be displayed on the screen.
LOAD DATABASE NOISE CONTOURS
The database stores noise contours in complete tiles. Before you
can download any database contours, you must first load at
least one tile in the scenario of interest, though this does not
have to be in the area you are contouring.
Select tiles to load
To download the noise contours, next you must select the tiles
that cover the required area. To select the tiles, select
Calculate, Load database contours. This will bring up
the Select Tiles to Load dialogue. There are several ways of
selecting the tiles to be loaded. You can choose to download
contours covering:

a named area (if you have any);

the area where you have already downloaded noise model;

the whole area of the noise model (ie the populated area)
Whichever method you choose, the display will re-centre on the
selected tiles, which will turn purple.
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Selecting tiles with mouse
You can change the selected tiles by using the mouse, as follows:

Clicking a tile toggles its selection (it selects a tile that was
not selected, and deselects a tile that was selected). You can
click and drag to toggle the selection of a number of tiles.

Shift-click deselects a tile. You can click and drag to deselect
a number of tiles.

Ctrl-click selects a tile. You can click and drag to select a
number of tiles.
Combination to show
You should next select the required category combination from
the list and click OK.
Select contour to load
A further window will open asking you to Select the Contour to
load. In the list, highlight the contour and click OK.
If the database does not contain any noise contours for the
selected tiles, you will be informed.
The database will now be queried and the selected tiles will
change colour as follows:

Green – database contains a valid contour of the type
requested

Red – database contains an invalid contour of the type
requested

Purple – database contains no contour of the type requested.
Only load valid contours
This tick-box allows you to load either all relevant contours, or
only those that are still valid. (See below).
VALID AND INVALID
CONTOURS
A valid noise contour is one where there has been no change to
the model since the contour was calculated, either within the tile
of interest or in any of the surrounding tiles within the
calculation margin.
An invalid noise contour is one where the model has been
changed since it was calculated. The change could have been
made in the selected tile or in one of the surrounding tiles within
the calculation margin. The user must use his judgement as to
whether the contour can be accepted, as the database does not
record the exact nature or location of the change. Note that nongeographic changes (such as a percentage on-time) do not
invalidate any results.
When the required noise contour has been downloaded, the
Contour Properties dialogue will open. You can now select the
display method for the contour, as described next. When you
10:8
Noise Contouring: Load Database Noise Contours
Noise Contouring: Contour Display Parameters
10:9
have done so, the contour will be drawn. This may take some
time, since although the noise levels have been calculated, the
position of the contour boundaries, the colours and method of
display still need to be computed.
CONTOUR DISPLAY PARAMETERS
When a noise contour is loaded, you are presented with the
contour display parameters dialogue box where you can control
the appearance of the noise contour map. It may be used
repeatedly to change the appearance of the map, without having
to reload or recalculate the noise levels.
SHOW CONTOUR
This check box allows you to display or hide the contour, which
may be useful when checking some detail on the map. It does
not close the contour, and so it can be quickly displayed again.
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Contour display parameters
Result type
Where a contour calculation produced a variety of noise indices,
a drop-down list lets you choose which index to display; note
that the time period in brackets e.g. [18h] is not the time covered
by the chosen index, but the traffic flow period on which the
calculation is based.
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Noise Contouring: Contour Display Parameters
Noise Contouring: Contour Display Parameters
10:11
Time period
If the noise index is defined for a particular time period, such as
Lday, then the time period will be shown in these boxes and
cannot be changed by the user. Note that the period starts at the
time shown in the left-hand box and ends at the time shown in
the right-hand box (strictly, it finishes at the end of the preceding
hour).
If you choose an hourly result, you can select any start and end
hour by typing or using the up and down buttons. Note that if the
end hour is earlier than the start hour, then the time period will
go through midnight (00:00). To include a 24-hour period, the
start and end times are the same, eg 00:00 to 00:00 or 06:00 to
06:00 will both give a 24-hour average. A one-hour average is
given, for example, by: 06:00 to 0:700 or 23:00 to 00:00.
Noise levels are arithmetically averaged for LA10 and energyaveraged for LAeq indexes, in accordance with usual convention.
Round results to the
nearest 0.1 dB
This rounds the results before the contours are generated, and
affects the contour range labels. This is explained in detail in the
following section.
Interpolate null results
inside buildings
Noise levels are not calculated for any grid points that fall inside
a building outline. A null value is stored in the database to show
this. By default, NoiseMap interpolates values for these null
points in order to produce a smooth contour. This prevents the
null values from distorting the contours when they are plotted,
which is especially important when a noise map is plotted
without the buildings superimposed. If you uncheck this box,
then no interpolation of null values will take place. This is useful
if you intend to export the raw data to another application.
If you choose not to interpolate results, then you can only
display the unsmoothed mesh. Other options are greyed out.
Squares that contain points with null values are coloured white.
Offset to add
You may wish or add or subtract a particular amount to every
single contour point. For example, you may know that the
whole of a noise map is affected by one source, and this can be
reduced in level by 0.8 dB. Putting an offset value of -0.8 in this
box will reduce all values by that amount.
Lowest and highest noise
level
NoiseMap reports the extreme values it encountered whilst
calculating the contour map. This includes the value of any offset
that you have added.
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CONTOUR DISPLAY
You choose one of four options:

Line-drawn Contour (smoothed) – The lines can be labelled
with the contour values.

Filled contour (smoothed) – This produces colour-filled areas
representing the various noise levels with a scale on-screen
to aid identification.

Line-drawn and Filled contour (smoothed) – This is a
combination of the two above options.

Unsmoothed contour data – This displays the actual value of
each calculation point, in a square mesh with the same
spacing as the original calculation grid. The squares are
centred around the calculation points and are coloured
according to the noise level of the respective calculation
points. If you chose not to interpolate null results in
buildings, this is the only display option.
CONTOUR LABELS
Line-drawn contours can be labelled by noise level as follows:

Label contour lines with noise level – Check this box to
label line-drawn contours with the noise level as an aid to
identification. Note that this breaks the contour line at the
position of the label. Uncheck this box if you need to export
continuous contour lines (for example when post-processing).

Character size – Move the slider to adjust the size of the
noise level labels when selected on the line-drawn contours
or when lines are drawn between the contour fills.
DRAWING METHOD
Filled contours can be painted over a background bit-map in
solid or transparent colour. Some transparent colours need a bitmap in order to be visible.
Solid – masks any bit-map detail (default)
White bgnd – visible over a black-on-white bit-map
Black bgnd – visible over a white-on-black bit-map
Mixed bgnd – all bit-maps visible, but contours have
reversed colour on a white background.
CONTOUR SCALE
This section sets the contour scale for line-drawn and filled
contours, and also lets you choose the colours of filled contours
Colour spectrum
NoiseMap offers several options for displaying colour-filled
contours:

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Blue-Green-Red – choice of auto-ranged or user-selected
contour intervals,
Noise Contouring: Contour Display Parameters
Noise Contouring: Contour Display Parameters
10:13

ISO 1996-2 standard spectrum – 5-decibel steps – standard
contour steps and colours, 5 dB apart

ISO 1996-2 standard spectrum – 10-decibel steps – standard
contour steps and colours, 10 dB apart
The ISO spectrum always represents the same band of noise
levels with the same colour, which can be an advantage. With
the Blue-Green-Red Spectrum, you can let NoiseMap choose the
scale to fit the range of noise levels, or select your own range.
This can permit smaller intervals over a range of interest, or can
be used to emphasise particular noise criteria.
In either case, a key is displayed on-screen to show what noise
level is represented by each colour.
Use Pastel colours
Pastel colours are paler versions of the normal colours. They
may allow base-mapping detail to be seen more clearly through
the contour shading and can save ink.
CONTOUR INTERVALS
Auto-generate blue-greenred scale levels
If you check this option, NoiseMap will select a suitable spread
of contours at a regular 2.5dB interval using the red-green-blue
colour spectrum, or fixed 5 or 10 dB intervals if you choose the
ISO colour spectrum.
If you select the red-green-blue colour spectrum and de-select
auto-generation of the scale levels, you can choose your own
start and end values, and number of contours. This controls the
contour interval. The maximum number of contours possible is
20 (producing 21 colours).

Number of Contours – n

Start Value - s

End Value – e
The contour interval will be (e – s)/(n-1)
Note that e must be greater than s and that n is a whole number.
CHOOSING PARTICULAR
CONTOUR VALUES
There are a number of ways of plotting specific contour values:

Override Values with following contours – this lets you plot
a number of irregularly spaced contours (up to a maximum of
20) then enter the values in the box provided, with spaces
separating each value:
60.0
60.5
61.5
65.0
70.0
NoiseMap will use your values as contours.
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
68dB Button – Produces a contour at 65.5dB. This is because
the standard that requires the 68dB value specifies a facade
level, whereas the contour map is free-field. The standard
2.5dB adjustment is used to produce a contour in the correct
place for the standard.

PPG24 Day Button – Produces a contour map based on the
UK Government’s PPG24 standard day-time values.

PPG24 Night Button – Produces a contour map based on the
UK Government’s PPG24 standard night-time values.
[Note: Both the PPG 24 buttons assume that you have made an
LA10 calculation and adjust the thresholds accordingly. If you
have converted to LAeq values, you will need to enter the
thresholds manually.]
Apply
Allows you to apply the current contour settings without closing
the parameter display dialogue box. This lets you test the effect
of different display options.
CONTOUR INTERVAL
BOUNDARIES
The contour interval scale will normally show a series of ranges
such as:
42.5 – 45.0
40.0 – 42.5
37.5 – 40.0
The boundary values are repeated to show that there is no gap in
the scale. The calculation results may be stored either with a 0.1
dB precision (using the procedure described in CRTN) or with
the full precision of the computer calculation, which is usually
equivalent to about 6 significant decimal digits. The precise
method of classifying a calculation result can be explained by an
example. Consider the range 40.0 to 42.5. Any value less than
40.0000 (ie exactly 40) is allocated to the lower range of 37.5 to
40.0. Thus a value of 39.9999 will be allocated to 37.5 to 40.0.
A value of 42.4999 will be allocated to the range 40.0 to 42.5.
Where results are to be allocated in accordance with
‘conventional’ rounding, this can be obtained by selecting
‘Round results to nearest 0.1 dB’ in the contour display
parameters window. This has the effect of rounding results
before they are displayed, or before they are exported as ASCII or
ESRI grid values. If this option is chosen, then a value of
39.9999 will be rounded up to 40.0. The category boundaries
will also be adjusted to correspond. Thus the rounded value will
be allocated to the 40.0 to 42.4 category. A value of 42.4999
will be rounded to up 42.5 and will be allocated to the 42.5 –
44.9 category.
10:14
Noise Contouring: Contour Display Parameters
Noise Contouring: Changing The Way That Noise Contours Are Displayed
Whilst this may give a cleaner treatment of boundary values, it
should be noted that noise models are not accurate to fractions of
a decibel. Moreover, it removes some of the precision in the
calculation, giving additional ‘jitter’ on the contour map.
CHANGING THE WAY THAT NOISE CONTOURS ARE DISPLAYED
If you want to change the way that the noise contours are
displayed, for example to change from ISO to Blue-Green-Red
contour colours, open the Contour Display Parameters dialogue
box. Select Calculate, Contour Display Parameters or
click on the rainbow-coloured contour display toolbar button
(only visible when a contour is loaded).
CLOSE CONTOUR
This closes the contour and clears it from the computer memory
although it will remain in the database. If you only want to
temporarily hide the contour, then uncheck the Show Contour
checkbox in the Contour Display Parameters window.
DISPLAY CONTOUR AREA BREAKDOWN
This outputs the area in square metres of the currently-displayed
noise contour to the ‘All Output’ page. The information is
broken down to give the area within each of the noise contour
ranges as used in the current noise contour display. The area
analysis is based on the calculated noise levels: either raw results
or interpolated within building outlines, depending on what was
selected when the contour data was downloaded. If rounding to
0.1 dB is chosen, then this will be taken into account. Each
calculation point is taken to represent an area equal to the square
of the grid spacing, thus with a 10 m grid spacing, each point
represents 100 square metres. The areas are calculated exactly
to the tile edges, so points on the edges represent half the area (5
square metres in this example) and points in the corners
represent one-quarter of the area (2.5 square metres in this
example). The area within buildings will be excluded from the
analysis if uninterpolated (raw) results have been selected, so the
area of contour will be less than that of a full tile.
JAGGED CONTOURS
When you have downloaded contours, you may notice
discontinuities at tile edges, where there is a sudden change of
noise level following horizontal or vertical lines, or sometimes
diagonal ‘staircases’. This is usually caused by an important road
being omitted from the calculation of the quieter tile because the
tile that contains it has not been downloaded. To correct the
problem, the tile will have to be recalculated with a greater
surround margin.
With the contour still loaded, click Calculate, Calculate
Database Contours. You will see a dialogue box stating that
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you already have contours loaded and asking if you want to
close them and continue. The lower part of the dialogue box
asks if you want to check edge differences. This means that
NoiseMap will check the noise calculations at touching tile
edges. Ideally, they should always be the same, but might not be
for the reasons mentioned above. You can ask NoiseMap to
select tiles to be recalculated based on:

minimum difference between adjacent tiles that you are
concerned about want NoiseMap to flag up;

the maximum tile surround that you wish NoiseMap to use
when calculating any tile.
NoiseMap will check all the adjacent tile edges and highlight in
purple any that should be recalculated according to your criteria.
You will then be presented with a dialogue box that allows you
to select the tiles to be calculated. You can add extra tiles to
those proposed by NoiseMap.
CONTOUR CALCULATION PROCESS
When you instruct NoiseMap to start a noise calculation (either
for a contour or a specific receiver) the first operation is to
download from the database the noise model for the selected
tiles and the appropriate surrounding tiles. This can take some
time, depending on the area and number of objects in the model.
A window indicates the stage that the download has reached.
Simplifying Outlines
The next step in the calculation procedure is to ‘simplify’ the
building outlines so as to convert the buildings into noise
barriers. The simplified outline is obtained by tracing round the
building to produce a series of barriers that do not deviate from
the façade line by more than 1.5 metres. At the same time, any
internal separating walls between buildings are eliminated. The
height of the barriers thus formed is obtained from the NoiseMap
ground model. This procedure can reduce the number of
barriers in the model by an order of magnitude, without creating
any significant errors. There can be tens of thousands of these,
and a progress bar indicates how far the process has gone. If you
want to see these barriers, then make the screen re-draw, for
example by clicking in it.
When the barriers have been added, the calculations commence,
again indicated by a progress bar. As soon as the calculation is
complete, NoiseMap contacts the database again and saves the
results. If it is connected to the calculation queue, it will then
download the next tile in the list and repeat the process.
When the calculation queue becomes empty, NoiseMap will
wait, checking the calculation queue once every two minutes
until another tile is put into the queue, or the user quits from the
queue.
10:16
Noise Contouring: Contour Calculation Process
Noise Contouring: Combined Source Modelling
10:17
COMBINED SOURCE MODELLING
NoiseMap will import models containing road, rail and site noise
sources. The topographical and geographical features of the
model are shared between all the noise sources. However, the
different types of noise source must be entered and modelled
separately, as in earlier versions of NoiseMap. This means that
road segments and railway line workings must be entered, the
appropriate traffic flows and rail services must be created and the
noise calculations must be run.
STOPPING NOISEMAP
If at all possible, you should always shut down NoiseMap
through one of the proper procedures to ensure that everything is
properly saved. You must never shut down whilst NoiseMap is
saving to the database, as this could corrupt the database and
cause a deadlock which will lock everyone out of it. If you think
this might have happened, contact your administrator
immediately, before any further damage occurs. The same
caution applies should NoiseMap for any reason crash whilst
saving to the database.
CLEAR NOISEMAP
This option closes the currently-loaded model, but leaves you
connected to the current database. You will be reminded to save
any changes that you have made. Use this option when you
want to load a new area of the model, for example.
EXIT
Makes a clean exit from NoiseMap, saving any configuration
changes that you have made and reminding you to save any
model changes.
QUIT
This option appears on the Distributed Calculation progress bar.
It stops the current calculation and disconnects you from the
calculation queue and also from the database. You will need to
log in again to continue working.
ABORT
This appears on the Contour Calculation progress bar. If you
click Abort, the current calculation will be terminated and
progress on the current contour will be discarded.
ABORT AT END
This appears on the Contour Calculation progress bar. If you
click Abort at end, the current calculation will continue until it
has completed and the resulting contour will be saved in the
database. No further contour calculations will be started.
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10:17
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Introduction
11:1
11. CALCULATION AT INDIVIDUAL
RECEIVERS
INTRODUCTION
Whilst noise mapping usually involves calculation of noise levels
at a grid of points, NoiseMap can equally deal with individual
receivers, ie specific points where noise levels are to be
calculated.
Advantages of using
individual receivers
Compared with contouring, there are some advantages in using
individual receivers

Can be located at specific points of interest

Far fewer calculation points, so much faster

Can be free-field or façade receivers

Can input specific angles of view

Can cover a range of heights

Detailed calculation can be printed out

Can readily show the contribution from different parts of
network

Can be used for 3-d viewing of noise levels
Methods of adding
receivers
Receivers can be added in a variety of ways, including:

Manual entry of individual receiver points

Creation of a grid of receiver points

Automatic generation of receiver points around buildings,
Local vs database receiver
calculations
Receivers can be calculated purely locally with the calculation
presented on the local computer without being added to the
database. This lets you obtain a detailed printout of the
calculation process, see page 16:4. This can be helpful when
verifying a noise model.
However, on verified models, this detail is unnecessary and it is
better to store the receiver results in the database to help with
subsequent analysis and display. These ‘database’ calculations
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
can either be done locally or when using a ‘remote’ database,
they can be added to the calculation queue for distributed
calculation (ie by multiple computers).
ENTERING INDIVIDUAL RECEIVER POINTS MANUALLY
Individual receiver points can be added manually from the ‘Add
objects’ menu. Click on the Add button and select Receivers.
Then click at the point where you want the receiver to be
positioned. [If the Receivers option is greyed out, Receivers have
been set ‘Grey or ‘Off’ in the Display Options menu.]
If the point is a façade receiver (ie 1 m in front of a façade), you
should then put in the limits of view. Move the mouse to the lefthand limit of the view and click, then move it to the right-hand
limit of the view and click again, as shown in the diagram below.
You can then continue to the next receiver point, using the same
sequence: click at the receiver position, then click on the left
limit of the field of view and then click on the right limit of the
field of view.
To enter a free-field receiver (ie with 360 degree field of view)
then instead of clicking on the left-hand field of view, hold down
the shift key and then click anywhere. You can now move on to
the next receiver point.
When you have put in sufficient receiver points, right-click to
terminate entry.
Measuring limits of field of view
The Receiver Properties screen will open. Click in the Ident box
and type in the address of the receiver.
Next, put in the Height of the receiver above local, say 2 m to
the top of the ground-floor window. Then click Get height so
that NoiseMap uses the ground contour information to obtain the
height above datum of the receiver.
If this is a façade receiver, set the Receiver type to Façade.
This ensures that the facade reflection effect is included in the
11:2
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Entering Individual Receiver Points Manually
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Entering Individual Receiver Points Manually
calculation. If it is a free-field receiver, ensure that you set
Receiver type to Free-field.
Finally, if you want to calculate noise levels at both ground and
first floor, put in the number of repeats as 1, and the Height per
floor (for example, 2.5 m). Then click OK.
RECEIVER PROPERTIES
SCREEN IN DETAIL
Receiver properties screen
Receiver ID Number
The receiver ID is used to identify the receiver in printouts and
on the graphical display. It is also used in the results database for
processing by ROPORT. If the NoiseMap output is to be used in
the optional ROPORT module ID must be a 4 digit integer. Even
if ROPORT is not to be used it is good practice to use
identification numbers to group receivers by area.
Identifier
The Identifier supplies an address for the receiver.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Co-ordinates
You can edit a receiver position manually, by typing new coordinates at the keyboard, or by the mouse or the digitiser. For
facade receivers the calculation point entered is normally 1m in
front of the facade.
Height
This is the height in metres of the calculation point above datum.
(It is not the height of the ground at receiver position, but the
height of the calculation point itself).
Height above ground
This is the height of the calculation point above local ground
level.
Angles of view
The angle of view of the road from the receiver is usually limited.
In a simple case, the facade itself might limit the angle of view to
180o, but it can be larger or smaller depending on circumstances.
The angles defining the limits of view are measured relative to
the positive Y-axis measured in a clockwise direction.

Left - This parameter gives the left limit of view, which limits
the angle of view to the left of the receiver position the
reception point. The angle should be measured clockwise
from the Y axis (or north point).
For a free-field receiver this parameter should be set to zero.

Right - This parameter gives the right limit of view, to the
right of the receiver position. The angle should be measured
clockwise from the Y axis (or north point)
For a free-field receiver, this parameter should be set to 360.
Receiver type
CRTN88 defines two types of receiver

Free field receiver

Facade receiver
A free-field receiver is at a reasonable distance (say 3.5m) from a
large reflecting surface such as a building facade or wall. A
facade receiver is 1m in front of a large reflecting surface.
Select the appropriate choice using the left or right arrow cursor
keys.
Number of repeats
As the calculation points in NoiseMap are often on facades of
buildings, calculations need to be made at different heights for
the same plan location. NoiseMap provides a facility to carry out
repeat calculations without needing to re-enter data about the
receiver position.
At each repeat, the height is incremented by the amount
specified on the following box.
11:4
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Entering Individual Receiver Points Manually
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Generation Of A Grid Of Receivers
Height increment per floor
The difference in height between floors does not generally vary
much over an area, so this parameter may only need to be
entered at the beginning of each set of receivers. The value
entered is the height in metres to be added to the receiver height
for each repeat calculation.
Receiver calculation
results
If you have downloaded the noise levels calculated for the
receiver point, the results will be shown at the bottom of the
receiver properties dialogue box for each floor level and each
category combination. This result can also be coloured using
View as colour and as a receiver label in the graphical display.
GENERATION OF A GRID OF RECEIVERS
A grid of receivers can be a useful alternative to noise contours,
particularly where a small area is to be covered or where a
vertical noise contour is required. The grid of receivers can be
aligned at any angle and at any spacing, horizontal and vertical.
By displaying the receivers as squares and by colouring them
according to the noise level (using View-as-colour) noise
contours can be produced. These can then be viewed in 3-d
either by drawing cross-sections through the grid or by using the
3-d viewer.
To generate a grid of receivers, select Add Object and then
select Receiver Grid. You can select automatically generate
height, but at present, NoiseMap will only generate the height of
the receiver grid from the ground model, and not from any other
height information.
On the graphical screen, now click the point where you want
one edge of the grid to be place and then move to the point
where you want the other edge of the grid to be placed and click
again. The line you have drawn will be the centreline of the
grid.
Now the receiver grid properties window will open.
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Receiver grid properties screen
You can adjust various settings as follows.
First ID number
This is the ID number of the first point in the grid. The ID of
successive points will be incremented by the ID number spacing.
Ident
This is a label that will be added to each ID point to assist in
identifying it.
Receiver spacing
The receivers will be generated on a square grid with the
specified spacing. You should be aware that if the grid is large,
you could have a very large number of receiver points if you
make the spacing too close. NoiseMap can accept a very large
number of receivers, but calculation time could get long.
Width of grid
The default value presented is equal to the length of the
centreline that you drew, so if you leave the default value, a
square grid will be produced, such that the baseline is in the
centre of the grid. If the grid size is not an integer multiple of the
grid spacing, the surplus receiver points will not be generated.
Calculate receiver heights
The receiver heights will be calculated either from the ground
model (in which case adjacent receivers may be at different
heights) or starting from the height above datum that you enter.
Number of repeats
This is the number of layers of receivers to be stacked above the
base layer. If left at zero, only one layer of receivers will be
generated.
Height increment
This is the height of each layer above the layer below it.
11:6
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Generation Of A Grid Of Receivers
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Generation Of A Grid Of Receivers
When you click OK, the receivers will be generated:
Example of receiver grid
You can then calculate the noise levels and display them in
colour, either in plan or cross-section:
Receiver grid with noise levels displayed in colour
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Vertical cross-section of Receiver grid with noise levels displayed in colour
AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF RECEIVER POINTS AROUND BUILDING
FACADES
Certain types of noise assessment require noise levels to be
calculated at building facades. One way of doing this is to
position a receiver point on each façade of a building: on long
facades, perhaps several receiver points might be needed to
represent the noise exposure of the building.
NoiseMap can automate this process. The spacing of the points
can be controlled by the user.
Select Edit, Outline tools from the menu and choose
Generate Building Façade Receivers. The following dialogue
opens:
11:8
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Automatic Generation Of Receiver Points Around Building Facades
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Automatic Generation Of Receiver Points Around Building Facades
Generate façade receivers
The settings are as follows:
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual

Distance from façade – this is the distance of the receiver
points out from the façade and is usually 1 m;

Minimum façade length – set this long enough to avoid
receivers being generated on short irregularities on a façade;

Receiver separation – where you choose to generate multiple
receivers on a long façade, set this to the maximum spacing
between receivers;

Set identifier string using – the options are: Auto-numbered
identifier; Building Identifier; or Closest Address Point
Identifier. A façade identifier (N/NE/E/SE/S/SW/W/NW) will
also be added

Height above local ground – this is the height of the first
receiver point above the local ground level;

Set absolute height using – select the method that NoiseMap
is to use in obtaining the receiver height;

Repeat separation – this is the vertical distance between
receivers on multiple-floor buildings;

Set repeat count automatically from building height – this
will insert a receiver at each floor level (starting from the
height above local ground) until the top of the building is
reached;
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e

Set number of repeats to – this fixes the number of repeats,
irrespective of building height; a value of zero will just
calculate for a single receiver.
Receivers generated by above settings
Limiting the generation of
receiver points
Receiver points are only generated for buildings in the tiles
currently visible on-screen. Tiles that are loaded but not visible
because you have zoomed in will be ignored. If any buildings
are selected, then receivers will only be generated for those
buildings.
Conversion to façade
receivers
Note that by default, all the receivers are free-field. To convert
them to façade values, using the Find function to select all freefield receivers and then use the edit function to set them to
façade values. Note that all the receivers are set to 180 degree
angle of view, but because of the barrier effect of the adjacent
façade, this should not affect the accuracy of the result.
Receiver names
Receivers names are automatically generated as in the following
example:
3, Random House, BF-1022-2.3, SW
where BF indicates Building Façade, 1022 is the outline number
of the building, 2.3 indicates the third receiver point on the
second façade (numbered around the building outline). SW
indicates the general direction in which the façade is facing. The
address is taken from the Building identifier or AddressPoint
identifier when this option is selected. The façade orientation is
approximate to the nearest principal point of the compass.
11:10
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Automatic Generation Of Receiver Points Around Building Facades
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Calculating Noise Levels At Receiver Points
CALCULATING NOISE LEVELS AT RECEIVER POINTS
When calculating noise levels at receiver points, you have the
option of doing the calculations on your local computer and
storing the results locally (the classical method), or of calculating
the results and storing them in the database. With this option,
you can add the calculations to the queue and then any
computers listening to the calculation queue can share the work.
LOCAL CALCULATION
Select Calculate, All Receivers from the main menu. A
dialogue box will appear, giving various calculation options.
Local calculation of receiver noise levels
Calculation method
Select the calculation method from the drop-down list.
RoadNoise
The Road calculation options only calculate for highway-type
road sources. Rail and Site sources have their own calculation
procedures. For RoadNoise, the calculation will depend on the
periods covered by the traffic data – which can be 18-hour,
day/evening night or 24 by 1-hour periods. Using this data, the
calculation options are:
RoadNoise CRTN All 2005: This calculates L10 using the
standard CRTN calculation method and then applies
adjustments to obtain Lden, Ld, Le, Ln, Leq 16-hour and Lden(ROI)
(methods A or B). The Lden calculation and its components
are calculated according to the method advised by Defra/TRL
in 2005.
RoadNoise CRTN 2003: This calculates the same parameters
as RoadNoise 2005, but using the slightly different method
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for converting L10 to Lden originally advised by Defra/TRL in
2003. It is retained for backward compatibility but should
not normally be used.
RoadNoise Leq – the Noise Advisory Council LAeq method.
This method does not give the same results for Leq as the
2005 method and is no longer widely used
It is recommended to choose the RoadNoise CRTN 2005
method in normal cases, as this also includes the CRTN L10
method. See also the discussion on p. 10:1
NRA/RoI Methods A and B – The National Roads Authority
of the Republic of Ireland publishes Guidelines for the
treatment of Noise and Vibration in National Road Schemes.
The Guidelines give two methods, A and B, for calculation of
Lden, with method A (the preferred method) requiring the
calculation of 24 1-hour L10 values from 24 1-hour traffic
flows, and method B requiring the calculation of the L10 (18hour) from the 18-hour traffic flow. The Guidelines give
formulae for converting these values to Lden. Atkins has
produced a research paper which shows that when the
NRA’s standard diurnal traffic flow profile is used, Methods
A and B produce very slightly different results, but the
Method B results can be converted to Method A results by
the application of a simple formula, to give an identical result
within calculation tolerances.
This means that it is
unnecessary to enter the 24 1-hour traffic flows in order to
use Method A, as long as the standard traffic profile is
applicable (which is true in almost every situation).
RailNoise calculation
methods
There are three options for RailNoise calculations

CRN Leq – calculation of the Leq index in accordance with
‘Calculation of Railway Noise 1995’ and subsequent
addenda;

CRN Lmax – calculation of the Lmax index in accordance
with the TNPM system used for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link

CRN LAeq (TNPM) calculation of the Leq index in
accordance with the TNPM system used for the Chaneel
Tunnel Rail Link.
The TNPM methods are specialist procedures and full details are
given in a separate manual available from NoiseMap Ltd.
The Leq index uses the measurement time to be set via the
Parameter, Edit Calculation Parameter dialogue.
The same dialogue is used to set up the cut-off distances, angle of
view and calculation precision.
11:12
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Calculating Noise Levels At Receiver Points
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Calculating Noise Levels At Receiver Points
SiteNoise calculation
methods
SiteNoise calculations are made in accordance with
BS5228:1997. Various enhancements to the standard method
can be selected via the Parameter, Edit Calculation
Parameter dialogue. These are described in a separate manual
available from NoiseMap Ltd. The same dialogue is used to set
up the cut-off distances, angle of view and calculation precision.
Result
This drop-down list will show the various calculation indexes
that are available for the calculation method you selected.
Choose the one you require. You can only selected one of the
available indexes when calculating for individual receivers.
Level of detail
You can choose between:

Summary printout
This only gives the value of the chosen noise index, with no
breakdown of the calculation process

One line per segment
This summarise the most important intermediate values and
the total contribution of noise from each segment

Full output
This provides a detailed analysis of the calculation for each
segment. It may be helpful for trouble-shooting, but should
only be chosen for small examples.
Include angle-cut-off
segments
Include distance cut-off
segments
This can be useful when using one line per segment output to
check which segments are being omitted as a result of your
calculation settings under Global parameters.
Update All Output
dynamically
Update Errors dynamically
These settings may be helpful on slow computers where you
wish to watch the output screen in real time. They should be left
unset on faster machines.
Create ROP file
A ROP file is a fixed-format output of the summary results for a
calculation, which is useful when transferring the results to other
software (such as a spreadsheet) for further processing.
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Limit calculation analysis
area to n tiles
This limits the number of tiles that are searched when NoiseMap
is looking for noise sources. It is useful as a speed-up device
when you have downloaded a model covering a large number of
tiles. You should note that this does NOT cause NoiseMap to
download additional tiles from the database to provide the
requested surround. It simply limits the search radius within
the tiles already downloaded. This means that you must make
sure that you download a sufficient area of the noise model
before starting the receiver calculations.
For example, suppose you have downloaded a model covering a
block 10 km by 10 km but your receiver cut-off distance is 1 km,
you may wish to limit the search radius to 3 tiles. If each tile is
0.5 km square, then any source within 1500 km radius will be
considered. However, it will only be necessary to search 7 times
7 = 49 out of the total of 20 by 20 = 400 tiles, greatly reducing
calculation time. You should bear in mind that CRTN uses the
perpendicular distance to calculate the distance cut-off, and a
segment which is at a great distance on the radius could be
pointing straight at the receiver, so its perpendicular distance
could be small. However, in this case its angle of view will also
be small, so its contribution of noise will be small as well.
Click OK to run the calculation. Individual receivers are always
calculated on the local machine – there is no facility for a
distributed calculation, nor for storing the results in the database.
The results will be displayed in the All Output window. You can
also display the results alongside the receiver points. Click
View, Display options from the main menu and click the
Labels View tab. Click the Receiver Labels check box and
the Advanced Recs button. Check Result for receiver
and click OK to return to the graphical screen. The result will be
displayed alongside the receiver.
CALCULATE DATABASE RECEIVERS
You can only calculate database receivers for database versions
of 3.81 (software versions 4.0.13) and above. Select Calculate
Database Receivers from the Calculate menu. Then:

select the tiles that you wish to calculate

select the calculation method (for more details, see under
Local Calculation above)
Then choose either:
11:14

Queue Distributed Calculation – this adds the selected
calculations to the calculation queue; or

Perform Local Calculation – this undertakes the calculation
on your own computer.
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Calculate Database Receivers
Calculation At Individual Receivers: Load Receiver Results
In both cases, the results are stored in the database.
The
calculation detail or receiver results are not shown when you
calculate database receivers, because it is assumed that you will
be doing a large number of calculations in a batch run and will
not therefore wish to check individual results. You must
download the results from the database if you wish to view or
export them.
LOAD RECEIVER RESULTS
This lets you download from the database the results of
calculations at individual receivers.
Viewing receiver noise
levels
When you have downloaded the receiver noise levels, these will
be shown in the Receiver properties window for each floor level
and each category combination. You can also view them on
screen using view as colour and you can label the receiver points
with the calculated noise level. You can produce a table of
results in the Output screen by selecting to Display receiver
results, see below.
DISPLAY RECEIVER RESULTS
When you have downloaded receiver results, you can display
them in the output screen by selecting Calculate, Display
receiver results.
EXPORT RECEIVER RESULTS
When you have downloaded receiver results from the database,
you can export them to an external file. This file is in CSV
(comma-separated value) format that can be read by Excel and
other software packages. All the downloaded results are exported
unless you select some receivers, in which case only the selected
receivers are exported. You could use this in combination with
the Find command to export receivers with certain noise levels.
SHOW SOURCE CONTRIBUTION AT RECEIVER
This will show the contribution of noise at a selected receiver
from each source. First, select one receiver in the graphical
window. Then choose the category combination and receiver
floor level for which you require the source contributions. These
must be chosen from values already in the model. The
calculation will be run and the sources will be colour-coded
according to their relative contributions, from blue for the source
contributing least, to red for the source contributing most noise.
This can be used as part of the model verification process to
check that the various sources are contributing the expected
amounts of noise, as it is much quicker that plotting a noise
contour.
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Calculation At Individual Receivers: Show Source Contribution At Receiver
Saving And Exporting Results: Export Shapefiles
12:1
12. SAVING AND EXPORTING RESULTS
EXPORT SHAPEFILES
ShapeFiles are an ESRI (ArcView) Geographical Information
System file format that contains both the geographical location of
objects and also their attributes or properties. A shapefile usually
consists of more than one file: one contains the geographical
data whilst the others contain the attribute data.
NoiseMap exports both the geographical and attribute data. The
attributes depend on the type of object that the shapefile
represents and are detailed below. All the NoiseMap attributes
of an object are exported. The description and order of the
attributes are given below. This order can be used as a default
when importing shapefiles into NoiseMap, so that a shapefile
exported by NoiseMap can be directly re-imported (it can be
round-tripped).
To export a NoiseMap model as a shapefile, proceed as follows.
Select from the menu View, Export shapefile
Choose the object to export

Ground Contours

Road segments and flows

Rail Tracks

Site Workings

Barriers

Building Outlines

Receivers
Shapefile root
Next you must select the name to be used as the shapefile root.
The root will be extended by a suffix denoting the type of
shapefile and by a file extension name denoting which
component of the shapefile it forms. For example, if you choose
the root essex, then, depending on the type of shapefile you are
exporting, the shapefile name could be:
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual

EssexRoad

EssexBld

EssexBar

EssexGnd
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For each type of shapefile object, three files will be exported,
with the filename extensions of:

.shp

.shx

.dbf
Shapefile attributes
The attributes of each shapefile depend on the type of object that
it represents. They are fully described in Appendix 1.
The shapefile information includes the TOID of the object. You
will need to ensure that you have downloaded the TOIDs before
you can export a shapefile: see Edit Program Defaults, p. 4:40
EXPORT PICTURE
You can save as a bitmap a contour displayed on screen. Firstly
load the contours that you require. Then choose Calculate,
Export Picture.
A dialogue box will let you choose the resolution (the number of
pixels) of the bitmap to be exported. Unlike copying the view to
the clipboard (see below) the resolution is not dependent on
your computer display, so it is possible to obtain high-resolution
images. The bitmap will be square and will include all the tiles
that are visible on-screen when you export the picture.
Bit-map is an uncompressed format suitable for further graphics
processing.
JPEG is not supported natively in NoiseMap. If you require a
JPEG or other image format, you should export a high-resolution
bit-map and then process in a suitable image processing package,
such as Paint, which is supplied with Windows.
COPY VIEW TO CLIPBOARD
(CRTL+C)
You can capture the current NoiseMap window to the Windows
Clipboard with the shortcut key combination Ctrl+C. This is
similar to the Windows Print Screen function, but captures only
the NoiseMap Window rather than the whole screen. This will
be captured at the resolution of your computer display.
EXPORT DXF
View, Export DXF will export the current NoiseMap model
in DXF format, including any noise contour which is open at the
time. You can choose whether the model is to be exported with
or without object heights, i.e. a flat model or a 3-D model.
By default, a title and border box with co-ordinates will be
included in the export. As an option, you may exclude this
detail.
12:2
Saving And Exporting Results: Export Dxf
Saving And Exporting Results: Export Contour Data
12:3
The DXF export will include those objects shown on-screen
when the export is performed. For example, if you only wish to
export the road segments, switch off the other objects first, by
using View, Display options. Any label settings will also
be reproduced in the export. If object heights are selected, each
receiver repeat can be output as a separate symbol.
Objects are exported with their current colour settings. If ViewAs-Colour is selected when you export the model, then the
objects will be exported with the colours applied, and the ViewAs-Colour key will be included.
Note that any currently-loaded bitmaps and imported DXF files
are not re-exported. Road, rail and haul segments and building
outlines are always exported in outline rather than as filled
objects. However, receivers are exported as filled squares if that
is their current setting.
EXPORT CONTOUR DATA
Calculate, Export Contour Data allows you save to an
external file the grid of noise levels used to create the current
contour.
This does not export the actual contour lines
themselves. For this, you need to go to View, Export DXF (see
above).
COMMA-DELIMITED ASCII
OUTPUT

To export the grid of noise levels, select Calculate,
Export Contour data. The ASCII Export dialogue box
will open and you will need to give a descriptive line for the
file and choose the Export Format from the following options:

X,Y, Absolute Height, Level: One line for each grid point
containing its grid co-ordinates, its absolute height above
datum and the noise level;

X,Y, Local Height, Level: One line for each grid point
containing its co-ordinates, its height above local ground and
the noise level;

X,Y, Level: One line for each grid point containing its coordinates, and the noise level; all points have the same height
above local ground, given in a comment at the top of the file.
In addition to the above information, the ASCII file contains the
following comments:
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
Name of Master file or Archive used to generate contour &
Name of category combination calculated;

Comment line for contour

Calculation method (eg LAeq or LA10)

Export format of file.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
The file is in plain ASCII comma-delimited format, ie commas
between the values on the line, with semi-colons (;) to denote
comment lines. Values are given to one decimal place of
precision. This format can be read and created by a wide variety
of software.
Output comma-delimited
results in full grid form
The comma-delimited ASCII output (described above) will output
the results in the currently-loaded tiles, whatever the shape of the
area. If you require the output to cover a full rectangular shape,
then check this box. NoiseMap will then fill any missing tiles
with ‘no data’ values (ie the value -9999.0 dB), to form a
complete rectangle. (NB: this is always done for the ESRI grid
output described below, so this box has no effect with ESRI
option.)
Points within tiles that have been contoured, but where no noise
level is available (for example, beyond the calculation cut-off
distance) are assigned a null value of -99.0. Note that this
distinguishes from the ‘no data’ value of -9999.0. For points that
fall within buildings, see below.
ESRI GRID FORMAT
An alternative output format is the ESRI Grid format, which can
be imported by various GIS systems. Firstly load up the contours
that you wish to export: these can cover as many tiles as you
wish, within the capacity of NoiseMap, and need not be a
rectangular area, although the ESRI grid will always export a
rectangular area. Any tiles outside the contoured area will be
exported with a ‘no data’ value for the points within them.
Hint: Importing ESRI Grid results into ArcView Raster format
In NoiseMap, download the required contours and then select Calculate, Export
Contour Data, and select ESRI ASCII Grid Format. Export the contour data and
add the letters ‘asc’ as the extension to this newly created file.
Open ArcMap (ArcViewer software). Go to ‘Window’ in toolbar. Click on Arc
Toolbox, then Conversion Tools, then To Raster and finally ASCII to Raster.
Points within buildings
CRTN cannot calculate noise levels inside buildings, so any
points that lie within a building envelope are stored in the
database with a ‘null’ value (ie -99.0). To prevent the contouring
routine from producing undesirable edge effects where a contour
boundary meets the building envelope, by default NoiseMap
interpolates for noise levels within the building, although the
interpolated values are not visible when the buildings are drawn
as filled outlines. It is usually desirable to export the noninterpolated ASCII grid containing these null values if further
mathematical processing is intended, but for visual presentations
it is better to use the interpolated grid which will give a
continuous image.
12:4
Saving And Exporting Results: Export Contour Data
Saving And Exporting Results: Export Archive
12:5
To export the uninterpolated (raw) values, you must uncheck the
Interpolate null results inside buildings check-box when
downloading the noise contour data.
EXPORT ARCHIVE
You can export the currently-loaded model as an archive that can
be saved as a backup, or to transfer data into NoiseMap
Enterprise, or for creating a new NoiseMap database. There are
memory limitations on the size of models that can be saved or
transferred using the archive system. When transferring to
Enterprise, it will only be possible to use those objects that are
defined for the relevant module. For example, you cannot use
building outlines in Enterprise.
If you need to backup or transfer large models, it will be better to
backup the database and transfer this to the new location. You
can use the Database Administrator for this purpose.
To export an archive, select File, Export Archive. Choose
the export option you require by selecting the appropriate radio
button:

NoiseMap Archive (file type .nma)

RoadNoise Enterprise Edition Archive (file type .rna)

RailNoise Enterprise Edition Archive (file type .tna)
When you select one of the Enterprise Edition options, only
objects relevant to that module will be exported. If a bitmap is
open, then this will be recorded, and when the archive is opened
NoiseMap will also try to load the bitmap. However, the bitmap
itself does not form part of the archive. If you want to supply the
archive to another user, you must also send them the bitmap file
(.bmp file) and the calibration information (.rnb file).
Note that Noise Contour information is not exported as part of a
NoiseMap five archive. You must use one of the other Noise
Contour Export options for this. [If a noise contour is loaded, this
is exported as part of a NoiseMap Enterprise archive, but it can
only be accessed in a NoiseMap Enterprise module.]
Choose the filename and location for the archive file and add a
comment which will be recorded as a TEXT comment in the
archive. You can also select a different origin from the original
co-ordinates.
Click Export to start the export process.
EXPORTING A SCENARIO
After working on a scheme for some time, you may have a large
number of redundant scenarios that are no longer required.
NoiseMap does not have a function for deleting or compressing
scenarios. However, you can export a scenario and then import
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
this into a new database, thereby allowing you to start from a
fresh base.
To do this, you should load the scenario of interest and then
export it as an archive. On large schemes, you may not be able
to export the whole scheme in one go. In this case, you can
divide the whole scheme into a number of named areas and
export it in a number of chunks. See Import Existing Archive on
how to import the Archive into a new database.
EXPORTING TRAFFIC FLOWS
You can export traffic flows to a plain ASCII file that is saved in
CSV (comma-separated values) format. This can be read into a
spreadsheet such as Excel.
To export traffic flows, select Parameters, Export Traffic
Flows from the menu and choose a suitable file name and
folder to receive the file.
For an explanation of the format and content of the output file,
see page 6:6, ‘Importing traffic flows from a spreadshseet’.
EXPORT TRAIN VEHICLES
You can export Train Vehicle data to a plain ASCII file that is
saved in CSV (comma-separated values) format. This can be read
into a spreadsheet such as Excel.
To export train vehicle data, select Parameters, Export
Train vehicle data from the menu and choose a suitable
file name and folder to receive the file.
The first line of the spreadsheet will contain a heading describing
the columns to aid readability, laid out as shown below.
VEHID
NAME
VTYPE VCORR
1 Diesel Loco TVT_DIESEL
14.1
2 Rolling stock TVT_NORMAL
6
SRCHEIGHT
0
0
SPDCORR VCORRFP SRCHEIGHTFP SPDCORRFP
0
0
4
0
0
0
0
0
Train vehicle export format
VEHID is the vehicle ID number used in NoiseMap. If you wish
to update the vehicle information in NoiseMap, then leave the
Vehicle ID unchanged and modify the other parameters. The reimport the spreadsheet. Existing vehicle IDs will be updated by
the new values imported from the spreadsheet and new vehicle
IDs will be added to the database. Note that each database can
only have one set of train vehicle data and that any changes you
make will appear in all scenarios in the database.
See index for information on the definition of the train vehicle
parameters in the table above.
12:6
Saving And Exporting Results: Export Train Vehicles
Saving And Exporting Results: Export Plant
12:7
EXPORT PLANT
You can export Plant data to a plain ASCII file that is saved in
CSV (comma-separated values) format. This can be read into a
spreadsheet such as Excel.
To export plant data, select Parameters, Export Plant from
the menu and choose a suitable file name and folder to receive
the file.
The first line of the spreadsheet will contain a heading describing
the columns to aid readability, laid out as shown below.
SRCL
PLANTNUM
NAME
SRCTYPE EVEL HEIGHT F315 F63 F125 F250 F500 F1000 F2000 F4000 F8000
1 Turbine
PST_SWL
103.1
86
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2 Land-rover PST_SWL
90
0.5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3 Excavator PST_LAMAX
91
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
All-terrain
4 vehicle
PST_LAMAX
85
0.3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Plant export format
PLANTNUM is the Plant ID number used in NoiseMap. If you
wish to update the plant information in NoiseMap, then leave the
Plant ID unchanged and modify the other parameters. Then reimport the spreadsheet. Existing plant IDs will be updated by the
new values imported from the spreadsheet and new plant IDs
will be added to the database. Note that each database can only
have one set of plant data and that any changes you make will
appear in all scenarios in the database.
See index for information on the definition of the plant
parameters in the table above.
SAVING THE OUTPUT WINDOW
The Results Output Window can be saved to a file or you can
copy it to the clipboard and paste it to another application.
Select File, Save As from the main menu bar. You will be
asked to supply the name of the output file. This will be given
the file type .OUT by default.
RESULTS REPORT (ROP) FILE
A ROP file is a list of results in a format that can be imported into
a spreadsheet or other application for further processing. You
can only choose to generate a ROP file when you calculate at
individual receiver points.
EXPORTING TO EXCEL
The Comma-separated Value (CSV) files generated by many
NoiseMap export functions can be opened, edited and saved in
Excel. This can provide a handy way of editing NoiseMap files
externally.
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The attribute part of shapefiles (with the .dbf type) can also be
opened and processed in Excel.
12:8
Saving And Exporting Results: Exporting To Excel
Features For Checking Models: Checking And Verification
13. FEATURES FOR CHECKING MODELS
CHECKING AND VERIFICATION
Checking and verification is an essential part of any noise
modelling process. NoiseMap has been designed to help users
to build noise models correctly from the start, but it is still
essential to check the model thoroughly before starting long
calculations and applying the results.
The main checking tools are as follows:

View-as-colour; p. 13:1

Model labelling; p. 13:3

Cross-sections and long-sections; p. 13:5

3-D viewing; p. 13:9

Duplicate checking; p. 13:12

Source contribution viewing; p 11:15

Detailed calculation printout; p. 16:4
There are many other automatic checks built into the calculation
process which will bring up an error message either on-screen or
in the output log window (which should always be checked).
These messages are intended to be self-explanatory and are not
detailed here.
VIEW-AS-COLOUR
View-as-colour allows you to view the model with chosen
parameters colour-coded. For example, you can colour-code
objects according to their height, ranging from blue as the
lowest, through green and yellow to orange and red as the
highest.
To view as colour, select this option from the View menu and
complete the dialogue box as follows.
View-as-colour On
Check this box to activate the View as colour feature.
PARAMETER TO COLOUR
Object type
Click on the drop-down list to select the type of objects you wish
to colour. You can select All types of object, or any one type.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
(Special objects are used for segment contributions and cannot
be selected manually.)
Object Parameter
When you have selected the type of object to view as colour,
you will see a list of parameters applicable to those objects. You
can only view heights in colour when you select All types of
object. If you do not want to see all types of objects coloured,
then switch the unwanted types of object to Grey, or Off
altogether, from the View, Display options menu.
PARAMETER OPTIONS
These options are only operative when viewing certain
parameters, and will be greyed-out if not applicable.
Train service to show
This is operative only when viewing Train Services, and lets you
choose which service is to be selected when there is more than
one.
Activity to show
This is operative only when viewing Activities, and lets you
choose which activity is to be selected when there is more than
one.
Result for combination
This is operative only when you choose to view receiver results
in colour, when you must select the category combination of the
results you require.
Result for floor
This is operative only when you choose to view receiver results
in colour, when you must select the Floor Number (ie Repeat
Value) of the results you require.
COLOUR SCALE LIMITS
Minimum
Maximum
This shows the range of values that will be coloured, from blue
to red. NoiseMap automatically adjusts the range of values to
suit the chosen objects, but you can enter your own choice of
lower and upper limit, perhaps to standardise the colours or to
view a restricted range with more precision. Objects with values
outside the chosen range will be coloured black or white to
contrast with the chosen display background.
Objects which do not have a particular value will be shown in
grey. For example, Ground Outlines do not have a height
property, so will be greyed-out on a height plan.
UPDATE VIEW
Click this button to view the effect of changes whilst keeping the
dialogue box open. Click OK to close the dialogue box whilst
13:2
Features For Checking Models: View-As-Colour
Features For Checking Models: Labelling The Model
13:3
keeping View-As-Colour active. To deactivate View-As-Colour,
uncheck the View-As-Colour option at the top of the box.
LABELLING THE MODEL
You can select which objects are visible in the graphical display
and you can label them with selected parameters. These features
are accessed from the View, Display options menu.
DISPLAY OPTIONS MENU
The Display Options menu has three tabs:

Types View

Labels View

General
TYPES VIEW
This enables you to select the display mode of each type of
object. For most objects, the following modes are available:

On – the object will be displayed in colour and can be
selected

Grey – the object will be displayed in grey and cannot be
selected

Off – the object will not be displayed
Note that if an object type is Grey or Off, it will also be greyed
out in the Add Object dialog, as it cannot be added manually.
In addition, Roads and Building outlines can be shown just as
outlines or as filled objects. Building outlines can be made
selectable, which then allows them to be moved or deleted. The
point markers on contours can be hidden to make crowded
contours easier to see, although it is then more difficult to select
their end-points.
You can indicate the direction of flow of traffic on roads by
checking the Flow Direction box.
Detailed indicates railway lines with cross-sleepers (to a notional
width) and Join chains will neatly mitre the corners of rail and
workings segments.
Outline types: allows you to select which types of outline are
displayed (Buildings, Areas, Lines, Annotation, etc)
Representation of receiver
points
Three check-boxes allow you to:
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual

Display the actual angle of view of receivers when selected

Display receivers in a lighter shade of blue for easier viewing
13:3
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e

Display receivers as filled squares, which can be specially
useful when colouring receivers according to the calculated
noise level. A slider allows the size of the filled squares to be
adjusted.
Working Options
You can select the display width of mobile routes and fixed
workings to improve display clarity. It does not affect the
position of the noise source, which is at the centre of the object.
LABELS VIEW
This enables you to select which types of object will be labelled
in the graphical screen. You can also select which properties of
each type of object will be shown in the label. This avoids the
graphical screen becoming cluttered with unnecessary details.
Further options to reduce clutter are to select the check boxes to
truncate labels on short elements and only to label objects when
selected.
You have three preset options:

None – No labels

Short – ID numbers only

Long – Includes heights and some other information.
Advanced Recs allows you to label receivers with their
calculated noise level. Use View-as-colour to colour the receiver
markers according their noise level.
Advanced Road gives options for labelling additional road
segment properties.
Outline types selects the types of outline to be labelled.
Orientation
This lets you set the direction of labelling. The options are:

Along the line of the object;

Horizontal

Vertical
Where there are many objects close together, choosing
horizontal or vertical may avoid the labels running into each
other.
Format
Format options let you control the amount of detail on crowded
models. The options are:
13:4

Use multiple lines for secondary labels (Services/ activities);

Truncate labels on short segments;

Only label currently selected objects.
Features For Checking Models: Labelling The Model
Features For Checking Models: Cross-Sections And Long-Sections
GENERAL
This controls a number of settings for the graphical display.
These include:

Set rotation angle of display

Show or hide the grid (also controlled by grid button on tool
bar)

Set grid size.

Screen background colour (black or white)

Size and thickness of lines and labels

Alternate add objects cursor (use if normal cursor is invisible
on certain background) .

Software fill of noise contours

Report GINO errors (GINO is the graphics driver)

Size and thickness of lines and labels

Colour of labels and maps (for use with monochrome
printers)

Thickness of characters in title box (can avoid problems with
pen plotters)

Size of grid labels
Screen Parameters
Printer parameters
CROSS-SECTIONS AND LONG-SECTIONS
Selecting Cross-section
function
NoiseMap can draw cross-sections over any number of section
lines. The cross-section function is located on the menu bar
under the Calculate, Draw Cross-section.
When you have selected this function, you left-click on the plan
view where you want the cross-section to start and then, using
the guideline that appears, position the end point of the crosssection and left-click again. Right-click to terminate the crosssection, which will then appear in a separate window. You can
have several cross-sections open at once if you wish.
Drawing Long-sections
Long-sections are produced in exactly the same way, except that
when you have left-clicked at the first way-point, you position
the mouse over a second way-point and left-click again. Repeat
for as many way-points as you require. When you reach the last
way-point, right-click to terminate the section and produce the
picture.
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Ground height evaluation
You will be asked whether you want a Pure CRTN-style CrossSection or a Calculated Height Cross-Section. This choice relates
to the way that the ground heights are calculated along the
section. With the CRTN method, the ground heights are only
calculated where the section line crosses a ground contour line,
whilst the Calculated Height method calculates heights at regular
intervals along the section line. The two methods may give
slightly different ground profiles in cases where the ground
topography is complex: this could be an indication that
additional ground contour or profile points need to be added to
the model.
Cross-section view
The Cross-section Display
In the cross-section display, the way-points are labelled in
alphabetical order A, B, C and so on. You can display a graticule
over the section by ticking the ‘Show scales’ boxes at the top of
the window. By default, these are shown at intervals of 100 m
horizontally (X) and 10 m vertically (Y). Note that the graticule
does not display the actual co-ordinates of the cross-section – it is
there to assist in judging distances. The X, Y values at the cursor
position are shown at the bottom of the window.
The cross-section is scaled to fit within the window, and when
viewing large models, it may become difficult to distinguish
small differences in the height of objects. To make the
differences easier to distinguish, you can exaggerate the vertical
scale by factors of 2 times, 5 times and 10 times.
You can also zoom the view with the Page Up and Page Down
keys, and then use the cursor keys to scroll the view up, down
and sideways.
Roads are shown as black horizontal lines, barriers as red vertical
lines, and buildings as grey blocks. In SiteNoise, haul roads are
13:6
Features For Checking Models: Cross-Sections And Long-Sections
Features For Checking Models: 3-D Viewing
13:7
always shown at a nominal width of 5 metres, although the
source line is always at the centre of the track. Point sources are
shown as thin, flat squares 2 m across. The actual source is at
the centre of the square. In the Cross-sectional view, the point
sources will be displayed when they fall within about 2 m of the
section line. Hover over any item to see its properties in the
status bar at the bottom of the window.
Display noise levels
Receiver points within about 2 m of the cross-section line will be
shown as blue squares. If you have calculated noise levels at
receiver points, you can choose to have these coloured
according to their noise level, based on the ISO 5 dB scale.
VERTICAL
NOISE CONTOURS
If you have calculated the noise levels on a regular grid of
receivers, you can produce a vertical noise contour by drawing a
cross-section through the grid of receivers. You need to set the
receivers so that they are shown as square blocks and then to set
view-as-colour to colour the receivers in accordance with the
noise result you wish to view.
3-D VIEWING
The 3-D viewer is a multi-purpose tool that allows any model to
be seen as solid colour model. Amongst the applications are:

checking ground topography of model

checking heights road and rail segments, other noise sources,
buildings, barriers and receivers

checking for correct position of embankments, cuttings,
barriers, and receivers

understanding complex 3-D models

assessing the relative height and position of barriers as part of
a barrier optimisation process

viewing the noise contours and façade receiver noise levels 3
dimensions

presenting results to lay audience
Any noise model can be used for 3-D viewing, but unless it
contains some ground contours or profiles, the result will be
difficult to interpret.
The viewing procedure is in two stages:
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
create the 3D model and save it as an archive

start the 3D viewer
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Standalone mode
The 3-D view is generated from within NoiseMap: there is no
need to start another application. However, the 3-D viewer is a
separate application and lets you view an existing 3D model
without having the full NoiseMap software or dongle installed.
This can be useful for on-site demonstrations, public exhibitions
and such.
The 3-D viewer has been completely revised to give more
realistic and reliable 3-D viewing on modern computers.
GENERATING 3-D FILES
Before starting to generate the 3-D view, download the tiles
covering the area of interest. The larger this area, the longer it
will take to generate the view. If you want to view the noise
contours or receiver noise levels in colour, you should calculate
and download these before generating the 3D files. They cannot
be added later. Also select a receiver point on the map, if you
wish to have a particular starting point for the view. You can
now start to generate the 3-D view.
Select Calculate, Generate 3D files from the main
menu. Give the name under which you want the 3-D Archive to
be saved. If you have selected a receiver as the initial starting
point of the view, now select the floor level and direction of the
initial view. The options are:

North

Centre of angle of view from receiver

Towards closest segment

Towards loudest segment. (only if you have calculated
segment contributions)
Choose your preferred option and click OK.
Colour receiver points by
noise level
The receiver points will be shown in the 3D model as small
cubes. If you have calculated the noise levels at the receivers,
you can choose to colour the receiver points according to their
noise level. You can choose which category combination to
display.
The colours are the ISO standard 5 dB step values. These are:
13:8
Noise level
Colour
Below 35
Light green
35 - 40
Green
40 - 45
Dark green
Features For Checking Models: 3-D Viewing
Features For Checking Models: The 3-D Viewer
13:9
Noise level
Colour
45 - 50
Yellow
50 - 55
Ochre
55 - 60
Orange
60 - 65
Cinnabar
65 - 70
Carmine
70 - 75
Lilac red
75 - 80
Blue
Above 80
Dark blue
Receiver noise level colours
If no results are present, the receivers will appear dark blue.
If you have got noise contours loaded, you can show these as an
overlay of the ground.
You can now start the process of generating the 3-D view. Click
Save and the process will start. The NoiseMap model is
converted into a series of planar triangular 3D facets: a complex
model may contain many tens of thousands of them. A progress
meter will indicate the approximate percentage completion,
which will assist you in deciding how long it will take. A large
model may take a considerable time.
When completed, the 3-D viewer will open with the model
displayed, from the initial viewpoint if that has been set.
THE 3-D VIEWER
If the 3-D viewer is not open, you can start it from the Windows
Start menu or from a desktop shortcut if you have one. You must
then open the archive file which contains the 3D model. The 3D
viewer will appear on the screen.
Direction of view
You can control the direction of view by clicking and dragging
the mouse. You can control the height of the viewpoint by
scrolling the mouse wheel.
Alternatively, if you press M on the keyboard, the direction of
view will follow the mouse without the need to click any
buttons. Press M again to release this.
Travelling through the
model
You use the keyboard to control the way you move:

NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
W moves you forwards in the direction you are looking
13:9
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e

S moves you backwards away from the direction you are
looking

A tracks you left relative to the direction you are looking

D tracks you right relative to the direction you are looking
Speed of travel
You can control the speed at which you move. Firstly, under
‘Eye/View’ set the base speed (default 100 km/h). Then

Ctrl slows you down to one tenth

Shift speeds you up to ten times the default speed
You press the speed keys in combination with the letter
(direction keys). The speed at which you move should not be
dependent on your computer, but a faster computer will give
smoother movement, as it will display more frames per second.
Smoother movement makes it easier to control the travel, since
with a slow computer, you will move further with each frame.
Hint: Improving graphics performance
The 3-D viewer requires a graphics card with Open GL support. Cards
which provide this in hardware will give smooth, rapid movement even
with processor-intensive features such as Fog and Transparency.
Viewpoint information
While the viewer is active, a panel to the right of the viewer
gives some information about viewpoint, including

X, Y position

Height

Horizontal angle (0 = north)

Vertical angle (0= horizontal)
This may be of help in adjusting your orientation. You can also
place yourself at a specific viewpoint by entering values here.
Button R resets the view to the initial viewpoint.
Button P sets the view to a top-down plan view.
Buttons also turn on the rectangular grid and the map axes.
Scene lighting
You can adjust the lighting of the scene by turning the Sun on or
off. When the Sun is on, it traverses the sky and affects the
direction of lighting, which can make various objects easier to
see. You can pause the sun by clicking the Pause button (symbol
is two vertical bars) in the toolbar. Button L1 turns the sunlight
on and off. Button L2 turns an additional spotlight on and off.
You can also apply ‘Fog’ which may help to give depth to distant
objects.
13:10
Features For Checking Models: The 3-D Viewer
Features For Checking Models: The 3-D Viewer
13:11
Receiver results
If you have calculated result for various combinations, you can
select the combination to view
The scene
You can turn on, off or show in wireframe the various elements
of the scene (Roads, Tracks, Routes, Fixed Workings, Barriers,
Ground, Hard/soft outlines, Receivers and Buildings.
If there is no noise contour present, the ground is shown with a
surface texture which helps to improve the visual impression.
The ground will normally slope as necessary to meet the edge of
the road, but roads which are elevated above the ground (height
above local ground is not zero) will appear at the correct
elevation and the ground will continue beneath them. If the ends
of adjacent road segments are not at the same height, then you
may be able to see through the gap to the blue background
behind.
If barriers heights have been entered incorrectly, so that one end
is below ground level, they can appear as a black ‘shark’s fin’ in
the scene.
Ground overlays
If you have calculated and downloaded noise contours, you can
turn these on or off in this section. Separately, you can turn on or
off the background detail overlay from the noise model.
HINTS ON VIEWING
When travelling, you may hit the ground plane and go
underneath it. From the underside, the ground appears black
above you, but the bottom edges of barriers protrude below the
ground. To regain the air, ensure you are travelling forwards (W
key pressed) and pull the mouse back so you are facing upwards.
Saving a scene
To save a scene, click the Copy button in the toolbar.
Alternatively, press PrtScr (the print screen key) to save the scene
to the clipboard. You can then open Word, Paint or a similar
graphics package and paste the scene, from where you can save
it to disc or print it out.
Pointer
Press the P key to transmit your approximate current position and
direction of view to the NoiseMap graphical view. This can help
if you have got lost, or simply want to identify an object in the
scene.
Quit
Press the Q key to close the 3D viewer.
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TROUBLE-SHOOTING 3-D
VIEWER
The 3-d viewer operates by generating a series of triangular facets
that cover the area to be viewed. The first part of the process is
to calculate the position of the corners of all the facets (the
vertices) and then to generate the facets so that they completely
cover the area without any overlaps or gaps. This is a complex
and computationally-intensive process and for large areas, a
considerable amount of RAM is needed. If the computer has
insufficient RAM for the size of the view (either in main memory
or for the graphical display) this can cause obscure errors, which
may be reported as stack problems, invalid instructions and the
like.
In such cases, we would advise ensuring adequate main memory
(1 GByte or more) and fitting a high-quality graphics card with
plenty of on-board RAM.
SOFTWARE FILLING OF
NOISE CONTOURS
There is occasionally a problem when filling noise contours that
causes one particular colour to flood the whole screen. The risk
of this is reduced by using Software Fill, which is now the default
option. Users who find this too slow can uncheck the box to use
hardware fill.
CHECKING FOR DUPLICATE OBJECTS
It is possible, when creating objects from digital mapping, that
the same object appears in more than one data source, due to
overlaps between maps, etc. This can mean that the same object
could be duplicated in the database. Often this may be of no
consequence – but sometimes it could lead to errors: for
example if a road segment is entered twice, this could lead to a 3
dB error in the noise level.
NoiseMap provides a function that tests for duplicated objects by
checking if two objects have essentially the same co-ordinates
within a given margin of error. NoiseMap will automatically
check for duplicates each time a model is loaded if you go to
Parameters>Program Options and under Model Check
select Check Model automatically on load.
Alternatively, you can make this check at any time from
Calculate, Check loaded model.
13:12
Features For Checking Models: Checking For Duplicate Objects
Features For Checking Models: Checking For Duplicate Objects
Duplicate Checking
Choose which duplicates are to be selected (if any are found) and
the closeness between objects that you consider to be a
duplication (default 0.1 m). Then click Check. You will
probably want to delete the duplicated objects. To do this, in
Object Selection choose Select objects found to
have problems and under Select Duplicates choose
which object are to be selected. You have the choice of All
but the oldest, All but the most recent, or All
duplicates. You can also check for any receivers that fall
within a (building) outline. When the check is done, pressing
Delete will remove the offending items.
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Distributed Calculations: Introduction
14:1
14. DISTRIBUTED CALCULATIONS
INTRODUCTION
When you wish to calculate a noise map over a large area,
particularly where there are many buildings, the calculation may
take a significant time. For example, an area 5 km square which
is modelled in square 500 m tiles will have 100 tiles. If each tile
takes 30 minutes to calculate, the total time will be 50 hours.
A simple way to reduce the calculation time is to have several
computers working on the task. This is called a ‘distributed
calculation’ and is available with the Remote Database version of
NoiseMap.
Each participating computer needs to have
NoiseMap set up on it, and for it to have access to the database
containing the tiles to be calculated, usually via a network or the
Internet.
The database contains a task list, called the calculation queue,
which contains details of all the noise contours that are awaiting
calculation, including the calculation method and other details.
Each computer that is available to undertake calculations is set
up to ‘listen to’ the calculation queue. If it finds a task waiting in
the queue, it will automatically load it and set to work. Although
the computer will still be available to do other tasks (except for
other noise mapping work) this is not recommended as it is likely
to be very slow. If you do decide to share the machine, then you
should use Windows Task Manager to set NoiseMap to low
priority.
Any other computer may act as ‘client’ and add tasks to the
calculation queue.
SETTING UP A COMPUTER TO LISTEN TO THE CALCULATION QUEUE
If you wish your computer to collaborate in distributed
calculations, you need to connect it to the calculation queue.
You should start the software in the usual way, then connect to
the database of interest, containing the calculations that your
machine is going to assist with. You log in as usual.
Then Select File, Connect to calculation queue.
A small window headed Distributed Calculation will open. This
shows whether there are any tasks in the queue, and if there are
it will show progress. A button marked Quit allows you to exit
from the calculation queue.
The Distributed Calculation window also shows the number of
tiles in the queue at the moment the current task commences,
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
and the number of computers calculating tasks the queue at that
time. These are approximate values and depend on the number
of computers that have commenced a calculation within the last
eight hours. On very long tasks, this number will not be
accurate. Also, these values are only updated when the particular
computer starts a new tile. For more accurate information, use
the Database Administration Tool.
The computer checks the calculation queue once every two
minutes and when it finds a task, it will accept it. This causes
another calculation progress window to open.
Contour Calculation
Progress Bar
This shows the progress on the tile being calculated. If you click
the Abort button, the computer will drop the current task (it may
take some time to respond) and the task will be added back to
the calculation queue. Any results from the aborted task will be
lost, but results from completed tasks will have been saved in the
database. Click Abort at end if you wish the computer to
continue until the current tile has been calculated. If you check
Close NoiseMap on completion, the software will close down
when the calculation is complete. This will prevent NoiseMap
PAYG dongles from continuing to clock up user time when tasks
have been completed. When you Abort or Quit from listening to
the Calculation Queue, the machine will be logged off from the
database. This is a security measure to reduce the risk of
unauthorised people gaining access to the database.
ADDING TASKS TO THE CALCULATION QUEUE
To add a task to the calculation queue, simply set up a database
contour calculation in the normal way, as follows:
Each participating computer will take the calculation method and
other calculation parameters from the database, not from the
settings in the machine that is doing the calculations. You set the
calculation parameters in the database from the Global
Parameters dialogue. The parameter settings in the participating
computers are reset to these values. It is wise to ensure that all
participating computers are running the same version of the
software.
From the NoiseMap user
interface
14:2

Load the area and scenario of interest

Ensure you have defined the category combinations to
calculate

Set up the required global calculation parameters (calculation
method, cut-off distance, cut-off angle, etc)

Navigate to Calculate, Calculate database
contours
Distributed Calculations: Adding Tasks To The Calculation Queue
Distributed Calculations: Queued Information
14:3

Set up the noise contour parameters (Contour spacing, height
above ground, etc)

Set up the number of tiles surrounding each calculated tile

Select (highlight) the category combinations to be calculated

Select Full precision calculation
Now you can select either

Local calculation – calculates only on your computer

Distributed calculation – puts the selected tiles in the
calculation queue
You should also note that your own machine will not
automatically participate in the calculations. This allows you to
continue to set up tasks whilst other machines undertake the
calculations. If you wish your computer to participate, you must
set it up to listen to the calculation queue when you have
completed your other work and can dedicate the machine to
calculations.
From the database
administrator
The database administrator contains a section that allows you to
view the calculation queue, and to add, delete enable and
disable calculations in the queue. See separate User Guide on
how to use the database administrator.
QUEUED INFORMATION
When you queue a calculation, the tile number, scenario,
calculation method and calculation parameters (cut-off distance,
COD, cut-off angle COA and cut-off for reflections COR) are
stored.
The tile and scenario contents are not stored, and any changes to
the model between the time that the calculation is queued and
the time that each calculation is started will be included in the
calculation.
The queued values of the calculation parameters (COD COA,
COR) are those present in the computer when the calculation is
queued. These will normally be the values in the database at the
time the calculation is stored, unless ‘session’ values have been
set. Where calculations are queued from a spreadsheet using the
script interface, then the calculation parameters are taken from
the spreadsheet.
SPEED OF COMPUTATION
When you have several computers connected to the calculation
queue, any differences in speed of the computers is unimportant,
as they are all working independently. This simply means that a
faster machine will do more tiles than a slower one.
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If the results are being held up by a slow machine (or one that
has crashed) you should used the database administrator to
change the status of the non-completed tile so that another
computer can take it over.
The tiles are not necessarily calculated in the order in which they
were put into the queue – when a batch of tiles is put in, they
will be calculated in the order in which they were originally
entered into the database.
You can use the database
administrator to adjust the order of calculation. If you are
calculating a huge number of tiles, it may be advisable to wait for
one batch to complete before adding the next batch, especially if
you intend to iterate the calculations to remove edge effects.
LOSS OF INTERNET CONNECTION
Occasionally the Internet connection or server computer may be
down at the moment that the calculating computer tries to save
the result. In such cases, the machine will display a warning and
wait until you ask it to retry or abort.
CALCULATION-ONLY LICENCE
A Calculation-only licence allows NoiseMap to connect to the
calculation queue of a particular database and to undertake
calculations that are in the queue. It does not provide access to
any other NoiseMap functions. This can be an economical way
of obtaining extra calculation power.
If you have a Calculation-only licence, only the File and Help
menus will be available. The File Menu will provide the
following options:

Establish Connection

Establish Default Connection

Connect to Calculation Queue

Exit
READ-ONLY DATABASE PERMISSIONS
In order to be able to undertake calculations (or to make any
other changes to the database), your user account must have
read-write permissions for that particular database, irrespective of
your NoiseMap licence conditions. Your NoiseMap database
administrator can set different permissions for each user for each
database.
14:4
Distributed Calculations: Read-Only Database Permissions
Graphical Output And Printing: Introduction
15:1
15. GRAPHICAL OUTPUT AND PRINTING
INTRODUCTION
NoiseMap can produce scale drawings of noise models or noise
map on any Windows-installed printer or plotter. In addition, it
can export noise contours as a Picture File in JPEG, PNG and
Bitmap formats or as a Digital Drawing in DXF or Shapefile
format. See the Index for references to this Manual.
Printouts can be at any scale chosen by the user and can include
a title block and a key. The printouts are high quality and
suitable for many purposes. However, if you require elaborate
presentation drawings, you may wish to export the map and
contour data to a drawing package such as AutoCAD.
PRINTING OR PLOTTING A MODEL
NoiseMap can use any printer or plotter with graphical capability
installed in Windows to produce a graphical plot of the
NoiseMap model. Results will be in colour on devices with this
capability. The print function is accessed from the File menu
option. There are three steps, described below.
Select printer
In order for NoiseMap to be able show the area which will
appear on your plot, you must firstly select the printing device
you wish to use. Click on Select Printer.
The standard Windows Print dialogue box will be opened. You
can select any device installed in Windows and can change the
settings of the printer, such as paper size and orientation, if your
printer/plotter offers these options.
Show Scale
You now need to tell NoiseMap the scale it should use when it
creates the plot. Click on Show Scale. Check the Map Scale
On box and type in the scale you require for the plot.
You will now see a rectangle on the graphical display, and the
size of the plot will be adjusted to fit the drawing scale you have
chosen. You can move the model until the area you require
appears inside the rectangle. This is the area of the model which
will appear on the plot. Do not zoom the model, or the scale of
the plot will be incorrect.
When you have completed the plot, you can remove the yellow
rectangle by clearing the Map Scale On check box.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Print
This menu option will be greyed-out until the yellow rectangle
appears, after you have selected a printer and shown the scale.
When you select this option, the area within the yellow rectangle
will be sent to the printer.
Printing options
The View, Display options menu allows you to set
various printing options such as the grid spacing and size of
labels. It also allows you to set options that will improve the
appearance of printed output on a monochrome device.
There are a number of options for obtaining hard copy from
NoiseMap:
Print or plot directly from NoiseMap: this is quick and simple
provided you do not need to process the output first

Copy to clipboard and use another application: this is
suitable provided the screen resolution is adequate (e.g.
small size for use in a report)

Output as DXF file to a CAD package: this can be used for
the model, including contours or results labelled on a model
plot, but cannot be used with bitmaps and does not re-export
an imported DXF file.
Hint - Printer or plotter?
For high-quality output, you need to use a printer or plotter. The
distinction between the two is becoming increasingly blurred, but
printers cannot always handle graphics, and generally only use small
sizes of paper (up to A4 or A3). Plotters have varying degrees of
graphics capability and handle larger sizes of paper, generally in the
range A3 to A0. Many printers can only do black-and-white, whilst
plotters have some colour capability. Pen plotters have a magazine of
four to eight pens. These are excellent for line drawing, but unsuitable
for large areas of colour fill. Inkjet or laser-type plotters can produce
large areas of continuous colour and are best where bitmaps or colourfilled contours are required.
NoiseMap can produce hard copy output on any printer or
plotter with graphical capability that you have installed in
Windows. To see a list of installed printers and plotters, choose
File, Printer from the main menu, and choose the printer
and paper size you wish to use. Next choose File, Select
Scale from the main menu and choose the scale you require for
the plot. A yellow rectangle will appear on the screen, to indicate
the plot area. Use the cursor keys or panning button to scroll the
image until you get the required area inside the rectangle, and
then go to File, Print on the main menu to initiate the print. If
you cannot get the required area onto the page, you must either
change the scale, use a larger paper size, or tile the plot across
several pages. If you ‘zoom’ the display, this will change the
scale, causing the yellow rectangle to disappear.
15:2
Graphical Output And Printing: Printing Or Plotting A Model
Graphical Output And Printing: Copy View To Clipboard
When you have completed the plot, you can remove the yellow
rectangle by clearing the Map Scale On check box in the
Show scale dialogue.
Printed/plotted appearance
The appearance of graphical output on a black-and-white printer
can sometimes be improved by selecting:

Print labels in black (ensures that coloured labels are visible)

Print colours in greyscale (ensures that colour contours are
printed with increasing density)

Bold characters in title box – some pen plotters will give
better output if this is off

Grid label size – by default the grid labels are subject to the
scale of the drawing; tick this box to produce a fixed size
regardless of scale, and use the slider to adjust the size, to aid
legibility.
COPY VIEW TO CLIPBOARD
The existing view can be copied to the clipboard from where you
can paste it into another application capable of handling
graphics, such as Word or Paint. Choose Edit, Copy view to
clipboard from the main menu, then switch to the target
application. This is not the same as pressing the Print Screen
(PrtSc) key, which copies the whole display to the clipboard.
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15:3
The Results Output Window: Introduction
16:1
16. THE RESULTS OUTPUT WINDOW
INTRODUCTION
The results output window (All Output Window) provides a log
of the NoiseMap session, plus results of some local calculations.
It is not saved automatically, but you can choose to save it when
necessary.
The start of the log announces the software title, session start
time, and some licence details.
It then logs operations on the database, such as calculating or
loading noise contours.
Typical operations logged include:

Connecting to database/ database version

Loading tiles

Calculating noise contours starting

Calculation completed

Calculation time

Loading noise contours

Loading shapefiles

Noise contour area analysis

Execution of script files
Explanations of each of these operations are given in the relevant
sections of this manual.
When noise contours are loaded, the tile ID is shown along with
details of what the contour represents, and its calculation
parameter settings.
When calculating for individual receiver points, the usual
calculation data is printed out.
You can also list all the parameters of the currently-loaded
model.
The Results Output Window also provides a log of any error
message generated by NoiseMap during data loading and
processing.
For detailed information on the format of this output, press the F1
function key.
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POSITIONING THE RESULTS OUTPUT WINDOW
As well as using the normal Windows drag and resize functions,
you can automatically position the Output window below the
main window by selecting View, Position below main
window.
You can also select View, Move with main window, so that
when you move the main window, the Output window follows.
SCRIPT COMMAND PANE
If you wish to execute a script file or enter a script command,
you will need to reveal the script command pane. This will
appear as a single line pane at the bottom of the Output Window
showing the command-line indicator >>>. To reveal the
script command pane, select View, Show command pane.
SAVING THE RESULTS OUTPUT WINDOW
The Output window cannot be printed directly from NoiseMap.
You can either save it to a file and then print the file from a wordprocessor such as Word or NotePad, or you can copy it to the
clipboard and paste it to another application.
The output is designed to be viewed in a fixed-pitch font
(e.g.Courier New). Full output will print on A4 Landscape paper
in 8-point font with margins of about 15 mm. The output is plain
text.
Saving output to file
Select File, Save As from the main menu bar. You will be
asked to supply the name of the output file. This will be given
the file type .OUT by default.
Copying to clipboard
If you wish to copy output to a different application, you can do
this by copying it to the clipboard and the switching to the other
application and pasting the contents of the clipboard to it.
Firstly select the text you wish to copy. When you want to copy
the whole of the Output window to the clipboard, you can use
the Edit, Select All function from the main menu.
Next, select Edit, Copy (shortcut key: Ctrl+C). The selected
text will be copied to the clipboard, from where it can be pasted
into another Windows application.
Clearing the output
window
After you have saved or copied the contents of the Output
window, you may wish to clear it so that you can start a new
Output session. Select File, Clear File from the Output
Window menu bar.
16:2
The Results Output Window: Saving The Results Output Window
The Results Output Window: Find Function
16:3
FIND FUNCTION
The Find function assists when looking for particular items in a
long output. You enter a search term and can choose to search
up or down the output. You have options to match the whole
word only and to match case (capital or small letters).
VIEW FUNCTIONS
SHOW ALL OUTPUT
The default action is to show all output. This numbers each
calculation run and shows the time it started and finished. The
results of the calculation are shown to the level of detail selected
in the Calculation Option dialogue box.
Once a calculation has been run, the amount of detail cannot be
changed in the Output window. If you need a different level of
detail, you will have to re-run the calculation.
The Run numbers can assist navigation through a long output.
All Run statistics are preceded by three plus signs (+++) to help
you to find them.
Warning and Error messages are preceded by three asterisks
(***) to assist in finding them. For details on how to interpret
the calculation results, use the on-line help (press F1).
SHOW ALL ERROR
MESSAGES
This shows only the details of the calculation start and
completion times and any error messages produced during the
run. Warnings are shown only in the View all output
option.
DISPLAY MODEL
PARAMETERS
This function produces a tabular summary of the whole of the
noise model as currently loaded. The model objects are grouped
by type, as follows:
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual

Traffic data

Train vehicle source data

Train service data

Plant data

Activity data

Road segment objects

Retained cut objects

Track data

Fixed workings data
16:3
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e

Route data

Noise barrier objects

Ground contour and ground type objects

Outline objects

Receivers objects

Global parameter settings

Category settings

Barrier adjustment settings
Finally, a summary of the number of each type of object is given.
CALCULATE FUNCTIONS
The results window only provides calculation options for
individual receiver points. For full calculation options, use the
main window.
RECEIVER CALCULATIONS
Receiver calculation options are described in section 11:11.
DISPLAY CONTOUR AREA
BREAKDOWN
This is an alternative way of accessing the function which
calculates the area covered by each noise contour band. It is
described in section 10:15.
OUTPUT
SELECTING OUTPUT DETAIL
The results of the NoiseMap run will be printed out with the level
of detail that has been specified in the Calculate dialogue box.
The various levels of detail are described below. The information
about contours and barriers is the same for road, rail and site noise
calculations. However the detailed information on the source
calculation depends on which type of source is being calculated.
The following section shows the output for a Road calculation.
FULL OUTPUT
+++ Calculation Run 4 started at 17:57:18
656 2 EAST ROAD (REAR)
HEIGHT OF RECEIVER ABOVE DATUM=
SEGMENT
NUMBER
1.0
0.0 ANGLE
3.0
0.0 ANGLE
4.0
0.0 ANGLE
5.0
0.0 ANGLE
12.9 HEIGHT ABOVE LOCAL GROUND LEVEL=
1.0
CUT-OFF
CUT-OFF
CUT-OFF
CUT-OFF
2.0
16:4
The Results Output Window: Selecting Output Detail
16:2
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
C O N T O U R
A N A L Y S I S
DISTANCE HEIGHT | DISTANCE HEIGHT | DISTANCE HEIGHT | DISTANCE HEIGHT | DISTANCE HEIGHT | DISTANCE HEIGHT | DISTANCE HEIGHT
36.5
11.5 |
18.2
12.5 |
14.1
11.5 |
0.0
11.9
< - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - P O S S I B L E
BARRIER DISTANCE BARRIER
C/WAY
POTENTIAL FRACTIONAL
NUMBER
FROM C/W HEIGHT
HEIGHT ATTEN
OPEN AREA
-1.0
24.1
12.2
10.9
-4.6
0.00
-3.0
6.9
11.5
11.1
-3.2
0.00
-5.0
26.4
11.5
11.0
-1.6
0.00
< - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BARRIER ANGLE SCREENED EFFECT ANGLE
NUMBER
FROM
TO
ATTEN
CORRN
*
-3.0 208.9 222.2
-11.4
-11.3
*
-4.0 236.6 259.1
-5.9
-9.0
*
-5.0 259.1 260.7
-5.9
-20.6
SEGMENT
NUMBER
2.0
DIST
ANCE
37.9
ANGLE
HT AV HT
PER
OF
OF
OF
CENT
VIEW C/WAY PROPN SOFT
54.6
11.1
0.6 100.0
SPD
CHNG
1.0
SCRN
ANGL
51.8
|
|
|
|
|
B A R R I E R S
BARRIER DISTANCE
NUMBER
FROM C/W
-2.0
15.1
-4.0
22.4
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >
BARRIER
C/WAY
POTENTIAL FRACTIONAL
HEIGHT
HEIGHT ATTEN
OPEN AREA
14.5
11.3
-11.2
0.00
|
11.5
10.8
-2.2
0.00
|
E F F E C T I V E
B A R R I E R S
| BARRIER ANGLE SCREENED EFFECT ANGLE
| NUMBER
FROM
TO
ATTEN
CORRN
|
-2.0 208.9 222.2
-11.4
-11.3
|*
-5.0 236.6 236.6
-5.9
-54.7
|
-4.0 259.1 260.7
-5.9
-20.6
MAJOR BARRIER
------------NO.
HT ATT
-2 14.5-11.2
BASIC
NOISE
LEVEL
71.2
< - LOW
FLOW
0.0
- - SURFACE
-1.0
- - - - | BARRIER
| NUMBER
|*
-3.0
|
-1.0
|
-5.0
- - - - - - - - - - - ANGLE SCREENED EFFECT
FROM
TO
ATTEN
222.2 236.6
-5.9
222.2 259.1
-5.9
260.7 260.7
-5.9
- - - - CORRECTIONS - GRAD ANGLE HARD SOFT
IENT VIEW
GRND EXCE
0.3
-5.2 -4.9 -5.9
- - BARRIER
-6.7
- >
ANGLE
CORRN
-10.9
-6.9
-44.9
- - - - > SEGRET REFL MENT
CUT TION TOTAL
0.0 2.5
56.2
[With the Full Output option, the above block of information is repeated for each segment and can therefore produced hundreds or
thousands of lines of output.]
Full Output
Depending on the level of detail, it is possible to do the following:
Check the accuracy of the model; for example that the
barriers are the desired height above the carriageway

Find the attenuation of each barrier

Find which barriers are effective (eg for barrier design)

Check the distance of receivers, angle of views, average
height of propagation, angle of segment screened

Check the corrections and to see whether the barrier is more
effective than soft ground

See the contribution from each segment
ONE LINE PER SEGMENT
OUTPUT
*** Calculation run 2 started at 18:21:16
Method: L10,18h (2005) Calculation.
The following barriers will have their heights adjusted as follows:
ID
1
6
H ADJ. |
0.0 |
0.0 |
ID
2
H ADJ. |
0.0 |
ID
3
H ADJ. |
0.0 |
ID
4
H ADJ. |
0.0 |
ID
5
H ADJ. |
0.0 |
Any barriers chained to adjusted ones will not be altered.
1 Kingswood Estate
HEIGHT OF RECEIVER ABOVE DATUM=
4.0 HEIGHT ABOVE LOCAL GROUND LEVEL=
RECEIVER COORDINATES = ( 5324.3, 4827.4)
SEGMENT
NUMBER
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
9.0
10.0
DIST
ANCE
71.0
8.7
20.8
22.9
65.6
273.9
308.1
276.1
312.6
ANGLE
HT AV HT
OF
OF
OF
VIEW C/WAY PROPN
9.3
0.0
2.3
17.9
0.0
2.3
98.0
0.0
2.3
31.6
0.0
2.3
2.4
0.0
2.3
2.5
0.0
2.3
4.9
0.0
2.3
6.2
0.0
2.3
5.4
0.0
2.3
0.5 ANGLE
PER SPD
SCRN
CENT CHNG ANGL
SOFT
100.0 0.0
9.3
100.0 0.0 17.9
100.0 0.0 98.0
100.0 0.0 31.6
100.0 0.0
2.4
100.0 0.0
2.5
100.0 0.0
4.9
100.0 0.0
6.2
100.0 0.0
5.4
CUT-OFF
MAJOR BARRIER
------------NO.
HT ATT
2
8.0-18.3
3
3.0 -4.2
3
3.0 -7.5
6
8.0-18.6
6
8.0-15.2
6
8.0-11.3
3
3.0 -4.4
3
3.0 -3.7
1
8.0-10.7
4.0
BASIC
NOISE
LEVEL
65.7
65.7
65.7
65.7
65.7
65.7
65.7
65.7
65.7
< - LOW
FLOW
0.0
-2.3
-0.5
-0.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
- - SURFACE
-1.0
-1.0
-1.0
-1.0
-1.0
-1.0
-1.0
-1.0
-1.0
- - GRAD
IENT
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
- CORRECTIONS - - - - ANGLE HARD SOFT BARVIEW
GRND EXCE RIER
-12.9 -7.4 -4.1 -11.2
-10.0
0.3
0.0 -4.2
-2.6 -2.6 -1.6 -7.5
-7.6 -3.0 -1.8 -7.4
-18.7 -7.1 -4.0 -15.6
-18.6 -13.1 -7.1 -7.4
-15.6 -13.6 -7.4 -7.4
-14.6 -13.2 -7.1 -7.1
-15.2 -13.7 -7.4 -9.1
- - - - > SEGRET REFL MENT
CUT TION TOTAL
0.0 3.7
36.9
0.0 4.0
52.5
0.0 2.7
54.2
0.0 3.1
49.5
0.0 2.5
25.8
0.0 2.5
28.1
0.0 2.5
30.6
0.0 2.5
32.3
0.0 2.5
29.2
1 Kinsgwood Estate
REPEAT NO.
CATEGORY
1
0
LEVEL
57.3
CATEGORY
2
LEVEL
-96.0
CATEGORY
3
LEVEL
-96.0
CATEGORY
LEVEL
CATEGORY
LEVEL
*** CONTRIBUTION FROM
Default IS 57.30 DBA L10,18h (2005)
************************************************************************************************
*** CONTRIBUTION FROM
Delivery IS 57.30 DBA L10,18h (2005)
************************************************************************************************
Errors :
0
Warnings:
0
16:2
The Results Output Window: Selecting Output Detail
The Results Output Window: Output Interpretation
16:3
One line per segment output
At the compact level of detail, with only one line per segment, it is
still possible to check the following:
Distance of receivers, angle of view, average height of
propagation, angle of segment screened

Determine which barrier gives the most attenuation, and its
height

Check the propagation corrections and to see whether the
barrier is more effective than soft ground

See the contribution from each segment
SUMMARY PRINTOUT
+++ NOISEMAP DEMONSTRATION +++
+++ Session started 17:40:54 27/10/1998
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+++ Calculation Run 7 started at 18:06:25
RECEIVER
652
653
653
654
654
655
655
656
1 EAST ROAD
11 EAST ROAD
11 EAST ROAD
2 EAST ROAD
2 EAST ROAD
10 EAST ROAD
10 EAST ROAD
2 EAST ROAD (REAR)
East-west
roads
70.4
71.4
73.6
72.3
74.2
71.9
73.9
50.3
North-south
roads
60.2
50.3
52.9
56.7
59.5
49.8
52.6
57.2
Roundabout
sections
58.9
49.4
52.2
56.7
59.5
49.8
52.6
50.3
All
roads
70.6
71.4
73.6
72.3
74.2
71.9
73.9
57.2
+++ Calculation Run 7 completed at 18:06:25
Errors :
Warnings:
0
0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary Printout
The summary format, which prints the category totals on one line
for each receiver, is usually used once the model has been fully
verified and where the other information is not required for design
purposes.
OUTPUT INTERPRETATION
Each page of output is numbered and labelled with the title of the
masterfile. The Edit, Find facility can be used to search for any
item in the output, such as the ID number of an object or the
address of a receiver.
The results of the calculation will be shown to the degree of detail
chosen when the calculation options were selected. The following
section should assist in understanding these results.
HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT
Firstly, if any barriers have been given a height adjustment, the
barrier ID and amount of adjustment (in metres) is listed. This lets
you check what adjustments have been applied.
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
16:3
16:4
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
RECEIVER DETAILS
Next the receiver ID (Address), height above datum and local
ground level and the receiver X,Y co-ordinates are listed.
SEGMENT NUMBER
The calculation for each segment starts with the segment number
at the left-hand edge of the page. In Full output, the following
analysis is shown for each segment.
CONTOUR ANALYSIS
This will only appear when Full Output has been selected. It
shows the distance from the receiver and height above datum of
every ground height contour or profile line which the crosses the
bisector of the angle of view between the receiver and the
segment. The final point (at a distance of 0 m) is the ground
height at the receiver. This information is used in computing the
average height of propagation for the segment.
POSSIBLE BARRIERS
This will only appear when Full Output has been selected. It is a
list of all the objects which might provide some barrier
attenuation for the segment under consideration. The list reads
left to right and then down the page, and give the barriers with
the greatest potential attenuation first. It provides:

The barrier ID number: if this has a dash (minus sign) in front
of it, then it is a ground contour or profile rather than a
barrier object.

The distance of the barrier from the carriageway;

The barrier height above datum at the point where the
bisector of the angle of view over the barrier crosses the
barrier;

The carriageway height at the point where the bisector of the
angle of view over the barrier crosses the carriageway;

The potential attenuation (ie if this barrier filled the angle of
view alone);

The fractional open area of the barrier.
EFFECTIVE BARRIERS
This will only appear when Full Output has been selected. In
each part of the angle of view of the segment, NoiseMap fits the
most effective barriers from the list of possible barriers. Within
each part of the angle of view, there will be a major barrier, and
there may be one or more subsidiary barriers in parallel with it.
Where there are parallel barriers, they can act to give more
attenuation than either would give alone. In each part of the
angle of view where this happens, NoiseMap regards the barrier
with less potential attenuation as a subsidiary barrier, and shows
16:4
The Results Output Window: Output Interpretation
The Results Output Window: Roadnoise Output
16:5
its details first. Its effective attenuation is the combined effect of
the two barriers.

Barrier Number – the ID number of the barrier under
consideration. A dash (minus sign) indicates a ground
contour or profile. If the barrier number also has an asterisk
in front of it, then there is another barrier between the road
and receiver acting in parallel with this barrier.

Angle Screened From – To: these are the limits of the angle
of view from the receiver to the road segment which the
barrier screens.

Effective Attenuation – this is the actual attenuation which
the barrier provides in this part of the angle of view. If the
barrier is a subsidiary barrier, the effective attenuation is the
combined effect of the subsidiary barrier with the main
barrier. If the barrier is a main barrier, the effective
attenuation is the combined effect of main barrier and all its
subsidiary barriers. If the barriers have a fractional open
area, then the joint effectiveness of the barriers is calculated,
and the appropriate degree of soft ground attenuation is
applied to any remaining open fraction. Only the attenuation
of each main barrier is carried through to the final result.

Angle Correction – the significance of a barrier depends not
only on the degree of screening which it gives, but also on
the angle of view which it screens. For example, a small
length without much barrier attenuation may not make a
great difference to the total noise level. To allow the user to
assess this, the angle correction is shown separately so that
the two effects can be distinguished. The significance of a
barrier can be estimated by adding the two corrections.
ROADNOISE OUTPUT
SEGMENT SUMMARY LINE
This appears when Full Output has been selected. When the
‘one line per segment’ option is chosen, only this segment
summary line is printed. It gives a summary of the calculation as
follows.
Segment Number
The segment ID number identifies the segment. They are shown
in the Segment Properties dialogue box, and they can be
displayed on the plot for ease of reference.
Distance
The tabulated distance is the perpendicular plan distance from
the nearside carriageway, extended if necessary, to the receiver.
A segment line which points towards the receiver will have short
'Distance' even if the actual road segment is far away.
Angle Of View
This is the total angle subtended by the segment line at the
receiver, whether or not it is screened.
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
16:5
16:6
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Height Of C/Way
This is the height of the carriageway at the bisection of the angle
of view of the segment. It is computed from the data entered and
will rarely be the centre point of the segment.
Avg Ht Of Propagation
If contours have been defined which cross the bisector of the
angle of view for a segment these are used in the computation of
the average height of propagation. If no relevant contours have
been defined, this value is calculated as the average of the height
of the receiver and of the carriageway above ground level.
Percent Soft
This is the percentage of the area between the segment and the
receiver point, which has soft ground cover. It takes into account
the ground type defined by the segment default and by ground
type outlines. If all the propagation is over hard ground, the
percent soft = 0% ; if all propagation is over soft ground the
percent soft = 100%.
Speed Change
This is the change in traffic speed resulting from the specified
gradient and the specified percentage of heavy vehicles. It only
applies where the prescribed CRTN speeds have been used
rather than measured speeds.
Screened Angle
This is the total of the horizontal angle of view of a segment that
is screened by barriers, including contours. Note that it includes
all possible barriers, even if they provide no effective screening.
Major Barrier
No Ht Att
The number, height and attenuation of the barrier with the
greatest attenuation for the segment. Not necessarily the most
significant barrier, as it may affect only a small part of the
segment. A dash in front of the barrier number indicates that the
screening is provided by a contour.
Basic Noise Level
This is the noise level due to the segment, at a reference distance
of 10m from that segment, taking into account the volume of
traffic flow, the percentage of heavy vehicles and the speed
(corrected for gradient). It does not include any gradient
correction or surface correction, which are shown separately. It is
a notional value, and must not be used as a prediction of the
actual noise level at all points 10m from the segment.
Corrections
NoiseMap takes the Basic Noise Level (BNL) and applies
corrections to that value for each segment and receiver position.
All corrections are tabulated in decibels.
Low Flow Correction
This is the correction that CRTN88 requires for road segments
close to a receiver when the flow is less than 4000 vh/18hr or
16:6
The Results Output Window: Roadnoise Output
The Results Output Window: Sitenoise Output
16:7
200 veh/hr. In CRTN88 the low flow correction is included
within the BNL, but NoiseMap shows it separately for
information.
Surface Correction
This is the correction for road surface noise, dependent on the
type of surface, its texture depth and vehicle speed defined for
the segment.
Gradient
The gradient correction adds to the noise level for flows which
are partially or wholly uphill. For level segments, or one-way
downhill flows, the gradient correction is zero.
Angle View
The contribution of noise from the segment is reduced by an
amount which is dependent on the total angle of view of the
segment.
Hard Grnd
This is the distance correction for hard ground propagation.
Soft Excess
This is the excess attenuation, in addition to that tabulated as
HARD GRND, which occurs when propagation is partially or
wholly over soft ground. If the segment has a greater barrier
correction, the SOFT EXCE value will not be added to the
corrections for the segment.
Barrier
The effective attenuation for the combination of barriers within
the screened angle tabulated.
Ret Cut
The retained cutting correction for the segment.
Refl'tion
The tabulated value is the sum of the facade reflection (when
appropriate) and reflections from any barrier on the opposite side
of the segment. Since the facade reflection is always 2.5,
subtracting 2.5 dB from the tabulated value for a facade receiver
will give the sum of the reflection corrections due to reflectors on
the opposite side of the segment.
Segment Total
This is the total noise level of a receiver point due to a segment.
It is the BNL value plus the sum of the corrections, but excluding
the lesser of the barrier and soft ground excess.
SITENOISE OUTPUT
SiteNoise output is similar to RoadNoise output, except that a
different source calculation is required, and this produces a
different output line, as follows.
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
16:7
16:8
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
<- - ACTIVITY - ->
CATENUM. WRK. TY GORY
1/
1 HAU
1
SOUND % ONPOWER TIME
LEVEL
108.0 100.0
EQUIV. SOURCE ANGLE
ONREC.
OF
TIME
DIST. VIEW
73.5
9.2
MAJOR BARRIER
LEQ
--------------@
NO.
HT
ATT 10M
2
8.0 -24.2 80.0
<- - - - - - ONDISTTIME
ANCE
0.0
-8.7
- CORRECTIONS - - - - - - ->
SOFT
BARR- ANGLE REFLECTGROUND
IER
ION
-1.9
-9.7 -12.9
3.0
ACTIVITY
TOTAL
51.7
Activity Summary Line
ACTIVITY SUMMARY LINE
This appears when Full Output has been selected. When the
‘one line per working’ option is chosen, only this activity
summary line is printed. It gives a summary of the calculation as
follows.
Activity Number (NUM)
The Activity ID number identifies the activity. It is shown in the
Activity Manager dialogue box and in the Workings Properties
box. It can also be displayed on the plot for ease of reference.
Working (WRK)
The working ID number shows where this activity is taking place.
Activity type (TY)
This indicates the type of activity:

Sta – stationary

Mob – mobile plant on site

Hau – haul road
Category (CAT)
Identifies the category assigned to this activity at this location.
Sound power level
The sound power level of the plant used in the activity. If you
entered an LAeq, this is the equivalent sound power level.
% on-time
The percentage on-time of this activity.
Equivalent on-time
The equivalent on-time is a correction made in BS5228 to take
account of the movement of mobile plant on site along the track
segment. It is not applied to other types of activity.
Source-Receiver Distance
The source-receiver distance depends on the type of activity. For
stationary plant, it is the distance between the activity point and
the receiver. For mobile plant, it is the distance to the nearest
point of the activity line to the receiver. For haul roads, it is the
perpendicular distance from the track segment, extended if
necessary, to the receiver.
Angle of View
This is the total angle subtended by the segment line at the
receiver, irrespective of any screening. It is only relevant for
activities on a haul road.
16:8
The Results Output Window: Sitenoise Output
The Results Output Window: Sitenoise Output
16:9
Major Barrier
No Ht Att
The major barrier is that which has the greatest attenuation, not
considering the angle of view it screens. The following
information is provided:

The ID number of the barrier (a dash in front of the barrier
number indicates that this is a ground contour);

The height of the barrier where is crosses the source-receiver
line;

The attenuation of the barrier.
Leq at 10 m
This is the reference source noise level for the plant as entered or
calculated from the entered sound power level. It does not
include any on-time, distance, soft ground, screening or
reflection correction factors, which are shown separately, and
must be added arithmetically to this reference level. It is a
notional value, and must not be used as a prediction of the actual
noise level at all points 10 m from the segment.
Corrections
NoiseMap takes the LAeq at 10 m and applies corrections to that
value for each activity and receiver position. All corrections are
tabulated in decibels.
On-time
This is a correction for the percentage on-time of the activity.
Distance
This is the distance correction for hard ground propagation.
Soft Ground
This is the excess attenuation, in addition to that tabulated as
DISTANCE, which occurs when propagation is partially or
wholly over soft ground. If the activity has a greater barrier
correction, the SOFT EXCE value will not be added to the
corrections for the activity. The value is always shown, for
comparison with the barrier attenuation.
Barrier
The combined attenuation of all the barriers, including soft
ground on any part of view which is not screened.
Angle Cor
This is the reduction of noise attributed to the angle subtended
by a haul road segment. It does not apply to other types of
activity.
Reflection
The tabulated value is the sum of the facade reflection (when
appropriate) and reflections from any barrier on the opposite side
of the segment. Since the facade reflection is always 3.0,
subtracting 3.0 dB from the tabulated value for a facade receiver
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
16:9
16:10
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
will give the sum of the reflection corrections due to reflectors on
the opposite side of the segment.
Activity Total
This is the total noise level at the receiver point due to this
activity. It is the LAeq value plus the sum of the corrections, but
excluding the lesser of the barrier and soft ground excess.
RAILNOISE OUTPUT
SEGMENT SUMMARY LINE
This appears when Full Output has been selected. When the
‘one line per working’ option is chosen, only this segment
summary line is printed. It gives a summary of the calculation as
follows.
Service Number (SVC)
The Service ID number identifies the train service. They are
shown in the Train Service Manager dialogue box, and they can
be displayed on the plot for ease of reference.
Track (TRK)
The track ID number identifies the track segment over which the
service is passing.
Category (CAT)
Identifies the category assigned to this service on this track
segment.
Flow
The hourly flow rate of trains on the service. (Note: whatever
time period is entered, the equivalent hourly flow is shown
here.)
Speed (SPD)
The speed of the service (km/h) on this segment.
Source type (SRC)
The type of noise source –

ROL – Rolling noise

PWR – Diesel loco under full power

FAN – Eurostar fan noise
Length of train (LEN)
The number of vehicles in the train (N.B. Not the physical length
in metres.)
Vehicle source correction
(VCO)
The vehicle noise source correction factor.
16:10
The Results Output Window: Railnoise Output
The Results Output Window: Railnoise Output
16:11
Source-Receiver Distance
The tabulated distance is the perpendicular plan distance from
the segment line, extended if necessary, to the receiver. A
segment line which points towards the receiver will have short
'Distance' even if the actual segment is far away.
Angle Of View
This is the total angle subtended by the segment line at the
receiver, irrespective of any screening.
Major Barrier
No Ht Att
The number, height and attenuation of the barrier with
greatest attenuation for the segment. This is not necessarily
most significant barrier, as it may affect only a small part of
segment. A dash in front of the barrier number indicates that
screening is provided by a contour.
the
the
the
the
Lxx at 25 m
This is the noise level (either LAeq or LAmax depending on chosen
calculation method) due to the train service, at a reference
distance of 25 m from that segment, taking into account the train
flow rate, the train speed, the number of vehicles in the train and
the vehicle correction factor. It does not include any distance,
soft ground, screening or reflection factors, which are shown
separately. It is a notional value, and must not be used as a
prediction of the actual noise level at all points 25 m from the
segment.
Corrections
RailNoise 98 takes the Lxx at 25 m and applies corrections to that
value for each segment and receiver position. All corrections are
tabulated in decibels.
Track Correction
This is the correction for track noise enhancement arising from
track supports, joints, etc. It is the value entered by the user for
each track segment.
Air absorption
This is a reduction in noise caused by air absorption, and is
dependent on the distance of the receiver from the segment and
on the type of source.
Distance
This is the distance correction for hard ground propagation.
Soft Grnd
This is the excess attenuation, in addition to that tabulated as
DISTANCE, which occurs when propagation is partially or
wholly over soft ground. If the segment has a greater barrier
correction, the SOFT GRND value will not be added to the
corrections for the segment. The value is always shown, for
comparison with the barrier attenuation.
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
16:11
16:12
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Barrier
Railway noise is directional and so the effectiveness of a barrier
depends on where it is within the angle of view. (A barrier
directly between the receiver and the railway is more effective
than a barrier to one side.) The barrier correction printed here
has been adjusted to take directivity into account, with the result
that the barrier attenuation may be less than indicated under
‘Major Barrier’ or ‘Effective Barriers’. However, it is a realistic
indication of the effective amount of noise reduction provided by
the barriers.
Ballast
This is a reduction in noise where there is a ballasted track
between the source and the receiver. It is not applied if barriers
give greater effective noise reduction.
Angle Cor
This is the reduction of noise attributed to the angle subtended
by the segment and its directivity relative to the receiver.
Refl'tion
The tabulated value is the sum of the facade reflection (when
appropriate) and reflections from any barrier on the opposite side
of the segment. Since the facade reflection is always 2.5,
subtracting 2.5 dB from the tabulated value for a facade receiver
will give the sum of the reflection corrections due to reflectors on
the opposite side of the segment.
Service Total
This is the total noise level at the receiver point due to this
segment. It is the Lxx value plus the sum of the corrections, but
excluding the lesser of the barrier and soft ground excess.
SUMMARY OF MODEL
Select Edit, Display Model Parameters to obtain a
tabular summary of the whole model currently loaded, grouped by
feature, as follows. These tables can be very extensive and
although they can be used for checking a small model, other
methods, such as described in Chapter 13, will be easier to use.
16:12

Traffic data

Train vehicle source data

Train service data

Plant data (Sitenoise)

Activity data (Sitenoise)

Road segment data (RoadNoise)

Retained cut data (RoadNoise)

Track data (RailNoise)
The Results Output Window: Summary Of Model
The Results Output Window: Summary Of Model
16:13

Fixed workings data (SiteNoise)

Route data (SiteNoise)

Barrier data

Ground contour data (Ground model)

Outline data (buildings and other features)

Receiver data

Global Parameters (cut-off angles and distances, calculation
method)

Category information

Model size.
The layout and content of these tables should be clear from the
descriptions of the model parameters given elsewhere in this
manual, and are not detailed further here.
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
16:13
Noisemap Script Interface: Script Commands
17:1
17. NOISEMAP SCRIPT INTERFACE
The NoiseMap script interface provides a text-based method for
performing many of the core NoiseMap operations. Script
commands can be entered directly within the script command
pane or by running a script file. Complex operations, bulk model
creation, calculation and result generation can all be automated
with simple script files. This chapter summarises the capabilities
of the scripting interface. A fully detailed manual is available on
request.
SCRIPT COMMANDS
A command comprises a one or two-word command name,
followed by a number of named parameters. For example, the
server command connects NoiseMap to a database server using
specified user ID and password credentials:
server dsn="Local NoiseMap Server" user=adminuser password="xyz$£!!42"
The command takes three parameters: dsn is the ODBC Data
Source Name for the server (as listed in the Connect to
NoiseMap Server dialog when using the main File->Connect to
Server menu option); user is server user name to use for
connecting, and password is the user’s server password. Some
longer parameter names have shortened versions, so password
can be abbreviated to pwd. In addition, for simple commands,
parameter names may be omitted so long as all parameters are
provided in the correct order. Thus the above command may be
simplified to:
server "Local NoiseMap Server" adminuser "xyz$£!!42"
SCRIPT COMMAND PANE
The script command pane allows the direct entry of commands
within NoiseMap. The command pane is accessible at the
bottom of the NoiseMap log/results window. Select View>Show Command Pane from the log/results window menu if it
is not visible. To execute a command, simply click in the
command pane with the left mouse button, type the command
and press the Return/Enter key. The screen shot below shows the
result of entering the help command which lists all available
script commands. The help calc contour command is about to be
executed, this will show more detailed information on the calc
contour command.
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17:2
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Within the command pane, text can be copied and pasted
to/from the clipboard using the standard Windows control key
combinations (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+X for copy, paste and cut
respectively), in addition, pressing the up or down cursor keys
will cycle through the history of previously entered commands,
enabling earlier commands to be repeated or modified.
SCRIPT FILES
Scripting is most powerful when commands are combined
together within a script file, enabling complex operations to be
automated. The script file below, for example, connects to the
newmodel database via the Local NoiseMap Server data source,
imports and converts a DXF file, commits the changes to the
database, performs a calculation and exports the results:
# NoiseMap script file test – setup some variables first
set SERVER_NAME "Local NoiseMap Server"
set DXF_DIR "C:\DXF Files"
# Connect to server and database
server %SERVER_NAME% user=adminuser pwd="xyz$£!!42"
database newmodel
# Load multi-layer DXF file, convert ground and commit to base scenario
load dxf "%DXF_DIR%\newmodel.dxf"
convert contours htol=1.0 vtol=1.0 height=lineabs layer=contours
commit scenario=base
# Convert roads and commit to roadschild scenario
convert roads htol=1.0 vtol=1.0 flow=default
add combo "All Roads" category=1
# create a category combination for cat 1
commit scenario=roadschild
# Calculate entire model, load results and export
calc contour method=lden(2005) res=50 ht=4 surround=2 &
combo="all roads"
load contour area=loaded method=L10 ht=4 res=50 combo="all roads"
export contour fmt=esrigrid file=C:\ContourData\newmodel.txt
# Unload everything
close database
In addition to the commands used, this script illustrates some
more script features:

17:2
Any text following a # sign to the end of a line is treated as a
comment and is ignored.
Noisemap Script Interface: Script Files
Noisemap Script Interface: Creating A Script File
17:3

To extend a command over several lines, an & can be placed
at the end any incomplete line (see calc contour command
above) . Anything on the line appearing after the & will be
treated as a comment.

Variables can be set and used within a script by using the set
command to set a variable’s value (eg. the variable
SERVER_NAME is set to the value “Local NoiseMap Server”
above). Whenever the variable name is encountered in the
script surrounded by % characters (eg. %SERVER_NAME%) it
will be replaced by its current value.
There are several ways that a script file can be run:

The File->Run Script menu option in the main window
brings up a dialog allowing a script file to be selected. Once
selected the script will run immediately.

The File->Recent Scripts sub-menu lists the ten most
recently run script files, most recent first. Selecting one of
these will run the script immediately.

The run command can be entered in the script command
pane followed by the script file name. This method allows
additional script parameters to be entered (see Script
Variables below), for example:
run C:\Scripts\TestScript.nms "parameter 1"

One or more scripts can be run automatically when
NoiseMap starts by using the /script command-line option.
This can be entered either via a specially created shortcut or
by running NoiseMap from a command prompt, for example:
While a script is running, the script file name will appear in the
title bar of the main NoiseMap window. The script can be
aborted by pressing the Escape key and keeping it pressed until
the current command has been completed. Some message boxes
displayed using the message command can also be used to abort
a script (see Command Reference section).
CREATING A SCRIPT FILE
SCRIPT EDITOR
Script files can be created using any text editor such as NotePad
or a spreadsheet such as Excel. In Excel, they should be saved as
a plain Text (Tab delimited) file, not a csv or Unicode file. In
other editors, they should be saved as plain ASCII files with no
formatting.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
You can tell NoiseMap to open your preferred script editor
automatically whenever a script error ore report occurs, see
Program Options, 4:41.
Any text in the file other than script commands should be
enclosed in quotes, eg “text“ (not apostrophes, eg ‘text’).
For example, the following spreadsheet can be used to generate
a txt file to modify traffic flows:
To run this file you will need to enter the run command into the
scripting pane, eg:
run "C:\My Documents\flow.txt"
SCRIPT VARIABLES
Script variables provide a means for customising script operation
at run time, accessing system-wide settings or simply improving
readability and script maintenance. Whenever a variable is
encountered within a parameter value (variables can only be
used in parameter values), it is replaced by its current value. So
in the earlier example, the load dxf command:
load dxf "%DXF_DIR%\newmodel.dxf"
becomes:
load dxf "C:\DXF Files\newmodel.dxf"
Note that to include a % sign within a string, %% must be used
(a similar rule exists for including " in strings). Thus the
command:
message "%%DXF_DIR%% value is ""%DXF_DIR%"""
would be used to display the following message box:
There are four classes of script variable:
17:4
Noisemap Script Interface: Creating A Script File
Noisemap Script Interface: List Of Commands
17:5

User-defined variables are defined using the set command.
The variable name can be any combination of alphanumeric
characters including any from the set “_.@[]{}():”, but must
not start with a number. A variable can be assigned any
value, and will keep that value for all subsequent script runs
until it is changed or unset using the unset command (this is
not the same as setting the variable to an empty string value).
This means that variable values can be setup from script files,
or even within the command pane, and then be used in later
scripts.

Built-in variables are pre-defined, providing access to certain
NoiseMap and system parameters. For example, when
running a script file, %LINE_NO% will return the line
number within the file of the current command, while
%DATE% will return the current date. The value of a built-in
variable can be changed by using the set command to create
a user-defined version – user-defined variables always take
precedence over built-in ones. In this case, the variable must
be unset to revert back to the built-in version.

Environment variables, as defined within the operating
system, are also accessible as script variables. For example
%PATH% will return the system search path, %TEMP% will
return the location of the temporary folder. The current set of
environment variables can be shown by typing set in a
Command Prompt window (or “DOS box”).

Script parameters are string values that are set using the run
command within the command pane (or include command
within a script file). Up to 10 parameters may be specified,
and are accessed within a script by preceding the parameter
number (1-10) with a % sign, for example %1 for the first
parameter, or %7 for the seventh.
The current values for all script variables (apart from
environment variables) are displayed using the list variables
command. A description of each built-in variable can be found in
the reference section.
LIST OF COMMANDS
The following commands are currently available. Most of these
commands take extra parameters: see the separate Script
Interface Manual or type help command in the script pane for
details.
Command
add area
add category
add combo
add flow
backup database
block
calc contour
calc queue
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
Description
Add or modify a database named area
Add a new category
Add a new category combination
Add a new traffic flow
Backup the entire current database to a .nmbackup file
Start a new script block
Perform or queue a set of tile contour calculations
Connect to the calculation queue
17:5
17:6
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
calc receivers
clear log
clear model
clear results
close contour
close database
close dxf
close noisemap
close shape
commit
compare files
convert
database
delete area
delete flow
delete selected
display contour
end
exec
export activities
export archive
export contour
export dxf
export flows
export picture
export plant
export results
export tvehicles
help
import activities
import archive
import flows
import plant
import scheme
import tvehicles
include
list databases
list profiles
list variables
load contour
load dxf
load model
load profile
load results
load shape
loop
message
modify flow
optimise database
output
pause
remove profile
run
save log
select
server
17:6
Perform or queue a set of stored receiver calculations
Clear all text from log/output files and reset
Clear all loaded model data, keeping connection to server and database
Clear all calculated/loaded receiver results from loaded model
Close any loaded noise contour results
Close connection to database, clearing all loaded data
Close any loaded DXF file
Close NoiseMap immediately
Close any loaded shape file
Commit all changes to the database
Compare two files, reporting differences found
Convert DXF or Shape file layers to NoiseMap objects
Connect to the specified database on the current server
Delete a database named area
Delete a traffic flow
Delete the selected objects
Set up noise contour display parameters
End of a block, test or loop
Execute a Windows system command or external command-line program
Export activities and workings assignments to CSV file
Export all currently loaded model data as a NoiseMap archive file
Export currently loaded noise contour data to an ASCII file
Export currently loaded model and noise contour data to a DXF file
Export currently-load traffic flows to comma-delimited CSV file
Export currently-loaded model and/or noise contour to file (bmp, jpg, png)
Export cuttently-loaded plant to comma-delimited CSV file
Export currently loaded/calc’d receiver results to comma-delimited CSV file
Export currently-loaded train vehicles to comma-delimted CSV file
Display script command help
Import activities and working assignments (optional) from CSV file
Import a NoiseMap archive file into the current model
Import traffic flows from CSV file, modifying flows with matching flow ID
Import plant from a CSV file, modifying entries with a matching plant number
Import a NoiseMap Enterprise Edition scheme masterfile into current model
Import train vehicles from CSV file, modifying entries with matching vehicle IDs
Include commands from another script file
List all accessible databases on the current server
List all loaded shape file mapping profiles
List all defined script variables and parameters with their current values
Load noise contour results for a set of tiles
Load a DXF file for conversion
Load all or part of the current model from the server
Load a shape file mapping profile
Load stored receiver results for specified tiles
Load a shape file with suitable column mappings for conversion
Loop block start - repeat block commands with iterating loop variable
Display a message box
Modify an existing traffic flow (also adds a flow if ID does not exist)
Optimise database tables and remove unoccupied tiles
Output text to log/output window
Pause script execution for a specified time period
Remove a shape file mapping profile from the currently loaded set
Run another script file in place of the current one
Save output log to a text file
Select specified objects
Connect to the specified NoiseMap server
Noisemap Script Interface: List Of Commands
Noisemap Script Interface: List Of Commands
set
stop
test
17:7
Set a user-defined variable value
Stop processing of a script file immediately
Start a new test block
Summary of script commands
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
17:7
Database Setup And Administration: Stand-Alone Databases
18. DATABASE SETUP AND
ADMINISTRATION
STAND-ALONE DATABASES
Stand-alone databases do not require any special setup or
administration. They are stored as ordinary Windows files and
should be treated in the same way. This means that the usual file
access and backup security precautions should be applied to
them. NoiseMap does not provide any special management
tools for stand-alone databases. This chapter does not therefore
apply to users of the stand-alone system.
REMOTE DATABASES
Remote databases are stored on a MySQL server. This is a
powerful database engine that needs to be installed on a
database server machine, which can be located anywhere
convenient – in your own PC, on a network or on the Internet.
The MySQL server and databases must be setup for use by
NoiseMap, and user accounts must be created to allow access by
authorised persons.
This appendix summarises the procedures involved in setting up
the server, creating a server connection and administering the
database. Detailed ‘How-to’ Guides are available separately.
SETTING UP A CONNECTION TO A REMOTE DATABASE SERVER
If the remote database server has already been set up, then you
must first set up the connection to it. In NoiseMap, select
File>Connect to server and click the green + button to Add a
new server connection. The following dialog opens:
Add new server connection
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Enter a friendly name for the connection, and in the Server
Address, enter the domain name or IP address. Under notes, you
can put any helpful further information. If you require an
encrypted connection, tick the box marked SSH Tunnel. Beware
that this requires an SSH (secure shell) service to be installed on
the remote server. It is not usually necessary for private
networks. Click OK and NoiseMap will set up the connection.
INSTALLING A SERVER AND DATABASE
If the remote database has not been set up, then you must gain
access to or instal the server hardware and the server software,
and then set up individual databases and user accounts.
MYSQL
For the remote server, NoiseMap Ltd supplies a copy of the
MySQL database engine and the necessary licence along with a
set of administration tools. The server runs under Microsoft
Windows from NT 4 onwards, but Windows 2000, XP
Professional/Server 2003 or later is recommended. There are a
number of options for setting up the database and the database
server must satisfy certain technical requirements. NoiseMap Ltd
will advise on these and provide necessary software and licenses.
Alternatively, you can lease space on NoiseMap Ltd’s server,
which is available on the Internet.
Once the server is set up, you can proceed to manage the
database and user accounts.
DATABASE ADMINISTRATION
THE DATABASE
ADMINISTRATOR
If you are running your own MySQL database server, you will
need a person to manage it, the Database Administrator.
The routine duties of the Database Administrator are as follows:

Back-up the database – weekly or more often, depending on
the amount of change that is made;

Create new databases and archive old ones as required;

Add users and grant them relevant access privileges.
All of the essential operations can be performed using the
NoiseMap Server Edition Database Maintenance and
Administration Tools provided with the Server-Side software, and
these do not require any specialist database or network
management skills to operate.
Please refer to the NoiseMap Administration Guide installed with
the tools for full details of how to perform these operations.
18:2
Database Setup And Administration: Database Administration
Database Setup And Administration: Copying A Database
USER PERMISSIONS
The Database Administrator gives each user a certain level of
access either globally to all databases or separately to each
database. For each database, the user can have one of:

No access

Read-only access

Read-write access
If users have no access to a database, then it will not appear in
their list of databases.
Read-write access is needed in order to be able to edit a model
or to undertake any calculations.
Read-only Access is useful if you wish to give a particular user
the ability to look at a model and the results, but not to be able to
make any changes or to make any calculations.
Database access restrictions work in conjunction with any
licence restrictions; so for example, in order to make changes to
a SiteNoise model in a particular database, you would need to
have both a licence for SiteNoise and read-write permission for
the database of interest.
Equally, if you have a calculation only licence, you must have
read-write access to a database in order to be able to make
calculations on it, but you will still not be able to make changes
to the underlying noise model.
THE CALCULATION QUEUE
The calculation queue is also held in the database. The Database
Maintenance and Administration Tools allow you to:

View the calculation queue;

Edit the calculation queue to remove calculations or change
their priority;

Load details of tiles for calculation (and the calculation
parameters) from a spreadsheet or external database: this
provides a way of managing very large calculation datasets.
COPYING A DATABASE
To copy a complete database, make a backup of it using the
Database Administrator back-up tool and then restore it using a
new name. The procedure is described in the Database and
Administration Tools Manual.
To copy a single scenario from a database, see Index for Copying
a Scenario.
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18:4
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
DATABASE VERSIONS
On occasions, the format of the NoiseMap database will be
upgraded to accommodate new features. NoiseMap maintains
backwards compatibility, so that older databases can be read by
newer versions of the software, but older versions of the software
cannot read newer versions of the database. When a newer
version of the NoiseMap is being used on an older database,
features which cannot be supported by the database will be
greyed out and not available.
If a particular feature is greyed-out, then check that you are using
an up-to-date version of the database. Also check that your
dongle is licensed for the features that you require.
We strongly advise that if you have multiple users, they all use
the same version of NoiseMap.
For further information, see the Database Administrator’s Guide.
CAPACITY OF NOISEMAP
No computer or computer software has infinite capacity.
Practicable limits are dependent on such things as available
RAM, processor speed, operating system restrictions and data
communication speeds.
For NoiseMap, one of the primary limiting factors is the amount
of RAM available in the computer. This must be shared between
all the objects that comprise the model as well as other processes
running on the machine. However, a model in a hilly area with
tens of thousands of ground contours will need more ground
contour storage than a model of a city which is relatively flat,
although the city will probably need much more building storage
than would be needed in the hilly area.
When the model is already in the database, NoiseMap can find
out how much storage will be needed for each type of object,
and will allocate the memory appropriately. However, when a
model is first being uploaded from digital mapping, NoiseMap
does not know how many objects of each type there are likely to
be, so it must make some initial assumptions about this. If these
assumptions are incorrect, and the original allocation for a
particular type of object is exceeded, then NoiseMap will request
a bigger slice of memory for that type of object. However, the
memory that was previously allocated to that object becomes
unavailable for the duration of that run. If this happens many
times, then the computer can run out of available memory and
the program will be halted.
One approach to this problem might be to allocate vast amounts
of memory to every object, but this would result in excessive
‘page faulting’, ie swapping data to and from ‘virtual’ memory on
the hard drive. This is a relatively slow process, resulting in
much longer calculation times, yet it still has a finite capacity.
18:4
Database Setup And Administration: Capacity Of Noisemap
Database Setup And Administration: Capacity Of Noisemap
The approach used by NoiseMap is to allow the user to set the
initial allocation of the number of each type of object.
The default settings are as follows:

TrainSegments = 0

TrainFlows = 0

RoadSegments = 6000

RoadFlows = 500

Barriers = 5000

GroundContours = 500000

Receivers = 3000

IdentStrings = 10000

Outlines = 100000
These are stored in a file called nmse.ini in the program files
directory where nmse.exe is stored. Depending on the type of
model you are creating and the amount of RAM in your
computer, you may wish to change these settings. You should
use Notepad or similar to open the file and change the values.
Do not delete any identifiers. The values should be higher than
the values that you think you will require, although NoiseMap
will request more memory if it needs it. However, do not be
tempted to ask for unrealistic limits as this will simply cause
unnecessary page faulting or may exceed what is physically
available. The default values will be fine for computers with 512
MByte of RAM. If you have 1 GByte or more, you could increase
these values if you wish. Some types of object, such as Road
Segments, require much more storage space than simpler objects
such as ground contours, so increasing the number of road
segments will consume more storage space than a corresponding
increase in the number of ground contours.
You can use Windows Task Manager to check on the amount of
physical memory available, actual memory used and page
faulting that is taking place. If you notice that the amount of
memory used by NoiseMap is continuously increasing, this is an
indication that it keeps having to acquire more memory to
accommodate certain objects and at some stage you will have to
restart the computer to prevent it from running out of memory.
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18:5
Updates And Maintenance: Continuous Development
19:1
19. UPDATES AND MAINTENANCE
CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT
NoiseMap Ltd maintains a continuous development effort to
improve ease of use of NoiseMap and to add new features. The
development effort also deals with changes to calculation
procedures and changes to computers and operating systems.
VERSION CHECK
You can find your version of NoiseMap by selecting Help, About
from the menu. This shows the modules that are licensed, the
Security Dongle number, the Licensee, Pay-As-You-Go time
(where applicable) and licence expiry date if within one month.
This, and other information, is also shown at the top of the
Output Log window every time NoiseMap is started.
AUTOMATIC UPDATES
So that users can benefit quickly and easily from improvements,
NoiseMap can automatically check and alert users as soon as an
update is available. This will help to ensure that you run the
same version on all your computers if you have multiple licences
or use several different computers. All you need to do is to
select Automatic Update Checking in the Parameters, Program
Options window, and to set how often you want NoiseMap to
check. If your computer cannot access the NoiseMap update site
directly (sometime direct connections are blocked by security
policies) then you will be prompted to connect via your normal
web-browser.
NoiseMap recommends that you activate automatic checking at a
suitable interval (7 days is the default). You must be connected
to the internet for automatic checking to work.
Alternatively, you can check at any time from the Help, Check
for software/Licence updates menu.
MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS
NoiseMap Ltd offers a maintenance contract which entitles you
to receive updates during your maintenance period for no further
fee. If your maintenance is not current, you would need to
contact NoiseMap Ltd either to take out a new maintenance
contract or to pay a one-off upgrade fee.
Should NoiseMap Ltd decide to offer an update for all users with
a certain version of the software, the update system may permit
you to download the update even if your maintenance is not
current.
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User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
LICENCE UPDATES
A licence is required to run NoiseMap, and this is supplied by
means of the dongle which must be plugged into the computer
that is running NoiseMap. The licence permits particular
versions of the software to be run, and is valid between certain
dates. The licence also contains the maintenance contract status.
The licence can be updated remotely by means of an update
code which can be supplied automatically from the NoiseMap
website.
If you have received a licence update code, then to update your
licence, go to Help, Update NoiseMap Licence and paste the
code into the Licence update window, and click OK. You will
then be able to continue using the software, along with any new
options that you have licensed.
UPDATE PAY-AS-YOU-GO
The Pay-As-You-Go system is an alternative to a fully-paid-up
licence, which avoids the up-front cost of purchasing a
permanent licence. You pay for the time that NoiseMap is
running, either in the foreground or even if it is idle in the
background. You are not charged when NoiseMap is not
running, and user time does not expire after any period of time.
For full details on the operation of the system, please see the
separate Pay-As-You-Go manual.
You are given an account on the NoiseMap website which you
can credit with user time. You then download a time-code from
your NoiseMap account which ‘charges up’ the dongle with a
certain number of hours of use. When this time has been used
up, you must download another time code from your account.
With the Pay-As-You-Go system, each time you start the
software, the start-up screen will show the amount of time
currently remaining in the dongle. You can check the remaining
amount of time whenever you wish by selecting Help, About
from the menu. You can download more user time by selecting
Help, Update Pay-As-You-Go from the menu. If your user time
has expired, then NoiseMap will offer to take you to the
NoiseMap website (you must be connected to the internet).
Once connected to the Pay-As-You-Go page, you must log in
with your user name and password. Remember that these are
‘case-sensitive’, ie the login distinguishes between upper and
lower case letters, so you must ensure that you use Caps Lock
and the Shift Key correctly. Any spaces must also be inserted
correctly. When you have entered the details, click the Login
button.
If you have entered correct details, the NoiseMap Main Menu
screen will open.
This will show a summary of your account:
19:2
Updates And Maintenance: Update Pay-As-You-Go
Updates And Maintenance: Get New Code
19:3

Account balance – the amount of money available for
purchasing units

Discount Points – the number of Discount Points determines
the price of units

Purchase Price – the current price of units based on your
number of discount points

The number of hours of user time you can purchase with
your present balance and price of units.
OPTIONS
Get new code
This allows you to use your account to download user time.
Get usage history
This prints out a list of transactions on your account.
Change Password or E-mail
address
This allows you to change these items as required.
See how points vary over
next 90 days
You earn one discount point for every One Hour of user time
that you download. Discount points become operative 30 days
after you have downloaded the user time, and remain on your
account until 90 days after you have downloaded that time. You
do not ‘spend’ any discount points when you download time.
They are a means of reducing the cost if you use the software
regularly and intensively.
This option shows how your points will vary over the next 90
days. It will show each date on which your number of discount
points changes, both as a table and in a chart. This will enable
you to plan downloads to obtain the best price.
GET NEW CODE
To download user time, first click on the Get new code option
on the NoiseMap web-site main menu.
The Code
Generator: Step Two screen opens. This shows the
number of hours you can download from your present balance,
at the current price for your account. Please type in the box the
number of user hours you wish to download. Then click the Go
to step three button.
Confirmation page
The Code Generator: Confirmation Page now opens.
This will show the number of hours you have requested and the
cost. It will also show your new account balance that will be left
on your account should you choose to proceed.
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
19:3
19:4
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
If you are happy with the details, click Proceed to complete the
download. The amount will be deducted from your account. If
you do not wish to finalise the download, click on the Main
Menu button and the download will be cancelled.
If you wish the user code to be e-mailed to your registered
address, click the tick-box before clicking the Proceed button.
Proceed
Your user time code will be displayed. If you proceed with the
download, the Code screen will appear. This is a long code and
must be copied exactly. Once you have closed the Code page,
the code will disappear and you will be unable to obtain a
replacement if you lose the code or make an error. We therefore
suggest that you copy the code by highlighting it with the mouse
and then copying to the clipboard by pressing Ctrl+C. Then you
can paste it into the NoiseMap dialogue box by putting the
cursor into the dialogue box and pressing Ctrl+V.
If you choose to e-mail the code to your registered address, this
copy will provide a back-up.
Applying the user code
The user code can only be used once. User time codes must be
applied in the order that they are obtained.
You may only apply the code to the dongle registered to your
account. If you enter the wrong code repeatedly, you will be
locked out and will need to contact your agent to have it reset.
CHECKING AND REFRESHING AVAILABLE USER TIME
USING TIME
When you start the software, you will be shown the user time
currently remaining in the module. Time will be debited every
two minutes, or part of two minutes, that the software is running.
Each module has its own time account.
The clock runs all the time that a module is open, whether it is
the active window, or running in the background. This is
because NoiseMap can continue to undertake calculations in the
background. To save charges when you are not using the
software, you should close it down, rather than simply
minimising its window.
When the user time expires, the software will close down and
leave a backup file so that no results are lost. When you reinstate the software, the backup will be re-opened. It is possible
for a time-consuming calculation to over-run the available time,
causing a deficit or ‘overdraft’ to be accumulated. This overdraft
will be subtracted from the next tranche of user time that you
download.
19:4
Updates And Maintenance: Checking And Refreshing Available User Time
Updates And Maintenance: Cost Of User Time
19:5
CHECKING AND
REFRESHING AVAILABLE
USER TIME
You do not have to wait for the available user time to expire
before you can refresh it.
You can check the user time available in the dongle whenever
NoiseMap is running. Select Help, About from the menu.
This shows the amount of time remaining for the current software
module. You can download more time from your Web account
by clicking on Go to web-site, which will connect you to
the site. Log on using your account name and password
(remembering that each dongle has its own specific account) and
click Get new code. Follow the procedure to get the code
and then return to NoiseMap. Put the new code into the box
marked Enter New Code. The time will be added to the
dongle and the new total amount of available time will be
shown.
COST OF USER TIME
For current information on the costs of User Time, or to have you
account topped up, with more user time, please contact
NoiseMap Ltd or your agent.
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
19:5
Default Shapefile Format: Shapefile Usage In Noisemap
20:1
20. DEFAULT SHAPEFILE FORMAT
SHAPEFILE USAGE IN NOISEMAP
ShapeFiles are an ESRI (ArcView) Geographical Information
System file format that contains both the geographical location of
objects and also their attributes or properties. A shapefile usually
consists of more than one file: one contains the geographical
data whilst the others contain the attribute data.
NoiseMap can use shapefiles as one method to import or export
both geographical and attribute data. The attributes depend on
the type of object that the shapefile represents and are detailed
below.
All the NoiseMap attributes of an object are exported in the
preset format described here. When importing a noise model, the
process is most highly automated if shapefiles are in the format
described here and are fully populated with all the attributes.
However, it is possible to use other shapefiles by specifying their
contents, and it is possible for some attributes to be assumed
from default settings. Some attributes can be generated within
the software. The relevant sections of the manual describe the
processes in more detail.
PRESET SHAPEFILE FORMAT
NoiseMap
following:
inputs
and
outputs

Road segments and flows

Building outlines

Barriers

Ground contours

Ground type outlines
shapefiles
containing
the
The format for each of these shapefiles used on output is given
below. This format can also be used as a default when importing
shapefiles into NoiseMap, so that a shapefile exported by
NoiseMap can be directly re-imported (it can be round-tripped).
Each shapefile has three files, with the filename extensions of:
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual

.shp

.shx
20:1
20:2
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e

.dbf
Shapefile attributes
The attributes of each shapefile depend on the type of object that
it represents. They are set out in the table below. A full
definition is available on request.
Roads
Shapefile
3D polylines define road segment position
Attributes
Definition
Type
SE_ID
NoiseMap internal ID of first road segment in polyline
chain
Integer
Roadname
Name of Road (text)
Character
String
TOID
ID of road segment external to NoiseMap, eg OS OSCAR
Character
String
Width
Width of one carriageway) in metres
Float
If Cwaytype = 0 or 1, width represents half the total width
of the road.
If Cwaytype = 2, Width represents the width of one
carriageway.
Localht
Height of carriageway above local ground level
Float
(in metres)
Groundtype
Type of ground cover surrounding road, defines the default
ground type to be used in the CRTN calculation
Integer
0 = hard ground, 1 = soft ground
Category
Identifies the type of road for combining noise
contributions from different types of road
Integer
Motorway
Identifies class of road for noise calculations
Integer
0 = non-motorway, 1= motorway
Cwaytype
Type of traffic flow on road
Integer
0 = Normal two-way road
1 = One-way road
2 = Dual Carriageway
20:2
Hrizsep
Horizontal carriageway separation, used if Cwaytype= 2
Float
Vertsep
Vertical carriageway separation, used if Cwaytype= 2
Float
Default Shapefile Format: Preset Shapefile Format
Default Shapefile Format: Preset Shapefile Format
Retcut
20:3
0 = road not in retained cutting
Integer
1 = road in retained cutting – parameters defined by the
following 9 parameters
Absorb
0 = Retained cut wall not absorbent
Integer
1 = retained cut wall area absorbent
BCL
Distance from road centreline to bottom of cut on left
Float
TCL
Distance from road centreline to top of cut on left
Float
DEL
Depth of retaining wall on left
Float
AGL
Angle to vertical of retaining wall on left
Float
BCR
Distance from road centreline to bottom of cut on right
Float
TCR
Distance from road centreline to top of cut on left
Float
DER
Depth of retaining wall on right
Float
AGR
Angle to vertical of retaining wall on right
Float
Roadsurf
0= Bitumen
1= Concrete
2=Pervious macadam
3= Manual correction
Integer
Texdepth
If Roadsurf = 0, 1 or 2, contains road surface texture depth
in mm.
Float
If Roadsurf = 3, contains manual surface correction in dB
Firstbar
The first barrier to be included when calculating this
segment
Flowname
LAEI Description for flow
LAEI_ID
Character
String
ID of flow data in London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory Character
String
Flow
Total number of vehicles in required period
Float
Phv
% heavy vehicles in required period
Float
Speed
Traffic speed in km/h
Float
Basis
0= traffic speed not corrected for gradient
Integer
1= traffic speed corrected for gradient
Multiplier
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
Figure applied to LAEI flow to produce the noise model
flow contained in this file. This is used to correct for flows
on separated carriageways.
20:3
Float
20:4
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Building Outlines
Attributes
Definition
Type
SE_ID
NoiseMap internal ID
Integer
Name
Name of building (text)
Character String
Toid
MasterMap Building TOID
Character String
HTMETHOD
0 = Absolute Height
1 = Local Height
Height as defined in HTMETHOD
Integer
HEIGHT
Barriers
Attributes
Float
3d Polylines defining top of the barrier
Definition
Type
SE_ID
NoiseMap ID of first barrier segment in Integer
polyline chain
Name
Name of Barrier (text)
Character String
TOID
ID of barrier external to NoiseMap
Character String
Width
Width of barrier
Float
Fractional open area of barrier
Float
FOA
Ground contours
20:4
2-D polygons containing building data. Height is applied
by an attribute which can contain either a local height (for
calculation from the ground model at run-time) or an
absolute height.
3d polylines defining ground contour chains (general
ground detail and derived side-slope data
Attribute
Definition
Type
SE_ID
NoiseMap ID of first contour in polyline
chain
Integer
Name
Name of Outline (text)
Character String
TOID
ID of barrier external to NoiseMap
Character String
Default Shapefile Format: Preset Shapefile Format
Default Shapefile Format: Preset Shapefile Format
Receivers
20:5
3d points representing receiver locations
Attribute
Definition
Type
SE_ID
NoiseMap ID of receiver point
Integer
Recvnum
User ID number of receiver point
Integer
Name
Name (Address) of Receiver (text)
Character String
TOID
Mastermap or other external TOID
Character String
Recvtype
0 = Free-field
Integer
1 = Facade
Localht
Height above local ground
Float
LeftAng
Left-hand limit of angle of view
Float
RightAng
Right-hand limit of angle of view
Float
Floors
Number of additional floor levels for
calculation
Integer
FloorHeight
Amount to be added to receiver height
for each additional floor level
Float
Hard/Soft Ground detail
2d polylines defining the ground cover type. Lines
represent coverage by forming polygons defined in a
clockwise direction. Lines representing ‘holes’ in areas
will form polygons that are defined anti-clockwise.
Attribute
Definition
Type
SE_ID
NoiseMap ID of first point in polyline
chain
Integer
Name
Name of Outline (text)
Character String
TOID
Mastermap or other external TOID
Character String
Ground Type
0 = Hard Ground
Integer
1 = Soft Ground
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
20:5
20:6
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Rail Tracks
3-D Polylines .define the track location
Attributes
Definition
Type
SE_ID
NoiseMap internal ID of track segment
Integer
Tracknum
User ID for track segment
Integer
TrackName
User Name for track segment (text)
Character String
Toid
MasterMap or other TOID
Character String
Localht
Height of track segment above local
ground (in metres)
Type of ground cover surrounding the
track. Defines the default ground type
to be used in the CRN calculation
0= Hard Ground, 1 = Soft Ground
The user ID of first barrier to be
included in barrier calculation for this
track segment
Maximum speed permitted on this track
segment (-1 indicates no limit) (km/h)
Track Roughness Correction (dB)
Float
Groundtype
FirstBar
MaxSpeed
TrackCorr
RetCut
Ballast
Fixed Workings
Correction for retained cutting (Not
used)
Flag indicating ballast correction
needed
0=not needed; 1= ballast to left
2= ballast to right; 3= ballast both
sides
Integer
Integer
Float
Float
Float
Integer
3d Points – define fixed workings for SiteNoise.
Attribute
Definition
Type
SE_ID
NoiseMap ID of fixed working point
Integer
WorkingNum
User ID of fixed working point
Integer
WorkingName
User Name for Working point (text)
Character String
TOID
Mastermap or other external TOID
Character String
LocalHt
Height of point above local ground (m)
Float
Ground Type
0 = Hard Ground
Integer
1 = Soft Ground
FirstBar
20:6
The user ID of first barrier to be
included in barrier calculation for this
working point
Integer
Default Shapefile Format: Preset Shapefile Format
Default Shapefile Format: Preset Shapefile Format
Route Workings
20:7
3d Polyline – define route workings (mobile plant) for
SiteNoise.
Attribute
Definition
Type
SE_ID
NoiseMap ID of route working segment
Integer
WorkingNum
User ID of route working segment
Integer
WorkingName
User Name for route working segment
(text)
Character String
TOID
Mastermap or other external TOID
Character String
LocalHt
Height of route working above local
ground (m)
Float
Ground Type
0 = Hard Ground
Integer
1 = Soft Ground
FirstBar
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
The user ID of first barrier to be
included in barrier calculation for this
route segment
20:7
Integer
Menu Structure: Main Graphical Screen Menu
21:1
21. MENU STRUCTURE
MAIN GRAPHICAL SCREEN MENU
File Menu
Shortcut Page
Edit Menu
Shortcut
Page
New database file
Ctrl+N
4:1
Copy view to clipboard
Ctrl+C
12:2
Open database file
Ctrl+O
4:2
Edit current selection
Ctrl+E
5:1
Connect to server
4:2
Add new objects
Ctrl+A
5:1
Connect to database
4:2
Edit object co-ordinates
5:1
Establish default connection
4:2
Split object
5:7
Load from database
Ctrl+L
4:8
Break chain
5:8
Commit changes
Ctrl+S
5:20
Join DXF chains
4:20
Database preview
Ctrl+W
4:4
Delete selection
Scenario manager
Ctrl+M
9:2
Segment tools
4:31
Optimise database
5:21
Outline tools
11:8
Backup database
18:2
Measure tool
5:10
Import scheme
4:9
Find
Ctrl+F
5:4
Import archive
4:10
Find next
F3
5:4
Export archive
12:5
Complete chain selection
Ctrl+R
5:6
Select chain to start
Ctrl+Shift
+T
7:5
Clear NoiseMap
Ctrl+Del 10:17
Del
5:8
Run script
17:1
Select chain to end
Ctrl+T
7:5
Recent scripts
17:1
Undo
Ctrl+Z
5:9
Save log/results output
16:1
Redo
Ctrl+Y
5:9
Select printer
15:1
Show scale
15:1
Print
Ctrl+P
15:1
Connect to calc. queue
14:1
Recent databases
4:3
Exit
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
Alt+F4
10:17
21:1
21:2
View Menu
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Shortcut Page
Calculate menu
Shortcut
Page
View-as-colour
13:1
Check loaded model
13:12
Load bitmap
4:44
All receivers
11:11
Centre view around bitmap
4:45
Selected receivers
11:11
Load DXF file
4:16
Show source contribution
11:15
Load Shapefile
4:22
Calculate database receivers
11:14
DXF view options
4:18
Load receiver results
11:15
Centre view around DXF /
shapefile
4:16
Clear receiver results
11:15
Convert DXF / shapefile selection Ctrl+D
4:20
Calculate database contours
9:1
Convert layer
4:20
Load database contours
10:7
Export DXF
12:2
Compare database contours
10:6
Export Shapefile
12:1
Contour display parameters
10:9
Load DXF Landform grid
4:15
Close contour
10:15
Show log/results window
16:1
Export picture
12:2
Show postcode
5:5
Export receiver results
11:15
Display options
13:3
Export contour data
12:3
Display receiver results
11:15
Parameters Menu
Edit calculation parameters
4:36
Display contour area
breakdown
10:15
Edit categories
4:38
Draw cross-section
13:5
Edit barrier adjustments
4:40
Generate 3-D files
13:8
Traffic flow manager
6:1
Load all traffic flows
6:1
Export traffic flows
12:6
Help Menu
Import traffic flows
6:6
Contents
Train vehicle manager
8:1
Index
On-screen
Train service manager
8:2
Search
On-screen
Export train vehicles
12:6
Update Pay-as-you-go
19:2
Import train vehicles
8:2
Update NoiseMap Licence
19:2
Plant manager
7:1
Check for software/licence
updates
19:1
Activity manager
7:3
About
19:5
Export plant
12:7
Import plant
7:2
Export activities
7:7
Import activities
7:7
Program options
4:40
Convert layer defaults
4:36
21:2
F1
On-screen
Menu Structure: Main Graphical Screen Menu
Menu Structure: All Output (Log/Results) Screen Menu
21:3
ALL OUTPUT (LOG/RESULTS) SCREEN MENU
File Menu
Shortcut Page
Edit Menu
Shortcut
Page
Save as
16:2
Copy
Ctrl+C
16:2
Clear File
16:2
Select all
Ctrl+E
16:2
Find
Ctrl+F
16:3
Find next
F3
Calculate Menu
Shortcut
View Menu
Shortcut Page
Page
Show all output
16:3
All receivers
16:4
Show error messages
16:3
Selected receivers
16:4
Display model parameters
16:3
Display contour area
breakdown
10:15
Show main window
Position below main
window
16:2
Move with main window
16:2
Show command pane
16:2
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
Help Menu
Shortcut
Help on text output
F1
21:3
Page
21:4
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
KEYBOARD SHORTCUT SUMMARY
Selecting objects

Shift + Mouse click: Add to current selection

Ctrl + R: Complete chain selection

Ctrl+ T: Select to end of chain

Ctrl+ Shift + T: Select to start of chain

Shift + Right cursor: tab forward along chain

Shift + Left cursor: tab backward along chain

Ctrl + D: Convert DFX selection to NoiseMap model

Escape: Clear selection

Left click: Toggle selection

Ctrl + Left click: Select

Shift + Left click: Deselect

Ctrl + A: Add new objects

Ctrl + E: Edit current selection

Ctrl + X: Reverse segment chain

Ctrl + Z: Undo last action

Ctrl + Y: Redo last action

Del: Delete selection

Ctrl + F: Find objects

F3: Repeat last find

Escape: Remove last added object

Shift + Left Click: Close loop (chained objects)

Shift + Left Click: Define free-field receiver (when adding
receivers)

F10: Close loop (digitiser)

Page Up: Zoom in

Page Down: Zoom out

Cursor left, right, up, down: Pan in direction

Ctrl + cursor right: Rotate right (clockwise)

Ctrl + cursor left: Rotate left (counter-clockwise)
Selecting tiles
Editing
Adding objects
Graphical View
21:4
Menu Structure: Keyboard Shortcut Summary
Menu Structure: Keyboard Shortcut Summary
21:5
Results/log window

Ctrl + C: Copy current selection to clipboard

Ctrl + Home: Move to start of text output

Ctrl + End: Move to end of text output

Ctrl + F: Find text

F3: Repeat last find

Tab: Move forwards through dialogue box inputs

Shift + Tab: Move backwards through dialogue box inputs

F9: Confirm changes

Ctrl + C: Copy text selection to clipboard

Ctrl + V: Paste text selection from clipboard

F1: Context-sensitive help

Escape: Exit help

Ctrl + N: New database file

Ctrl + O: Open database file

Ctrl + L: Load from database

Ctrl + S: Commit changes

Ctrl + W: Show database previewer

Ctrl + Del: Clear NoiseMap

Ctrl + P: Print

Ctrl + C: Copy current view to clipboard

Alt + F4: Exit
Dialogue boxes
Database
Output
Termination
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
21:5
Index:
22:1
22. INDEX
3-D viewer, 13:6
direction of view, 13:9
speed of travel, 13:9
starting, 13:9
travelling though the scene, 13:9
troubleshooting, 13:11
viewpoint information, 13:9
Abort
at end, 14:2
calculation, 14:2
About NoiseMap, 19:1
Absorbent ground, 5:2, 5:13
Absorbent noise barriers, 5:19
Absorbent surfaces, 6:15
Activities
adding, 7:3
identifying locations, 7:4
importing and exporting, 7:7
introduction to, 3:6
overriding defaults, 7:7
overriding inherited values, 9:6
presentation on-screen, 7:9
putting into workings, 7:5
removing from workings, 7:6
Activity
manager, 7:3
summary text output, 16:8
text output, 16:8
total- text output, 16:10
type- text output, 16:8
Add
objects, 7:4
railway track segments, 8:4
working locations, 7:4
AddressPoint, 4:33
Administrator, 2:10
tools, 18:2
Angle corr
text output, 16:9, 16:12
Angle of view
receivers, 11:4
text output, 16:8, 16:11
Annotation, 4:33
font size, 4:34
Apply button, 6:16
Archives, 2:5
consistency checks, 4:11
exporting, 12:5
importing, 4:10
introduction to, 4:9
types of, 4:10
ArcView. See also GIS
Area
outlines, 4:33
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
ASCII
export, 12:3
AutoCAD, 3:8, 4:13, 15:1
Automated
model creation, 4:25
modelling, 2:3
Backup database, 18:2
Ballast
text output, 16:12
Barriers. See Noise barriers
Basic operation, 5:1
Bitmaps, 3:8
calibration, 4:43
drawing noise contour over, 10:11
export, 12:2
introduction, 4:42
loading, 4:43
locating, 4:44
pre-calibrated, 4:43
saving, 4:44
scanning, 4:42
turning on and off, 4:44
working with, 4:42
world files, 4:43
BMP, 4:43, 12:2
Boundaries
masking, 4:33
BPW, 4:43
Break chain, 5:8
Break lines
labelling, 4:34
Broadband connections, 2:8
BS5228 Calculation method, 10:6
Building outlines, 2:4
adding, 4:31, See also Shapefiles
calculation points within, 12:4
initial memory allocation, 18:5
manual entry, 4:33
noise levels inside, 10:10
select method, 4:32
simplifying, 10:15
viewing simplified, 10:15
CAD, 2:7, 4:14, 4:15, 15:2
Calculation
abort, 10:16, 14:2
abort at end, 10:16
adding tasks to queue, 10:4, 14:2
BS5228, 4:36
compatibility, 4:36
computer speed, 14:3
connect to queue, 14:1
contribution of sources at receiver, 11:14
CRTN, 10:2
cut-off angle, 4:35
22:1
22:2
cut-off distance, 4:35
database permissions required, 14:4
disconnecting from queue, 10:16
distributed, 10:4, 14:1
error messages, 16:3
features, 10:1
individual receivers, 11:1
local, 10:4
method, 4:35, 10:2, 11:10
method, choosing, 10:4
not permitted, 4:1
NRA/RoI method, 10:5, 11:11
of noise contours, 10:1
of receivers, 11:1
options, 4:35, 10:5
output, 16:3
parameters, 4:35, 9:5
points within buildings, 12:4
precision, 4:36
progress, 10:15
queue, 14:1
queue, importing and exporting, 18:3
queue, managing, 18:3
queued information, 14:3
Rail, Road, Site, 3:8
RailNoise, 10:2
receiver points, 11:10
reflection cut-off, 4:35
SiteNoise, 10:2
storing settings, 4:37
tile order, 14:4
time, 14:1
time period, 4:36
Calculation parameters
and scenarios, 9:5
save to database, 4:37
set for session, 4:37
Calculation-only licence, 14:4
Capacity
of NoiseMap, 18:4
Carriageway
dual, 6:5
one-way, 6:5
separation, 6:13
type, 6:11
width, 6:12
CAT
text output, 16:8, 16:10
Categories
assigning in RailNoise, 8:7
assigning in SiteNoise, 7:10
limit on number of, 4:38
text output, 16:8, 16:10
Category combinations, 10:4
inheritance, 7:11
limits on number of, 7:11
setting up, 4:37
Chaining barriers, 5:19
Checking
for duplicate objects, 13:11
noise models, 13:1
Child
scenario, 4:7, 5:20, 9:1
Clear NoiseMap, 10:16
Client/server application, 2:10
Clipboard
copy view to, 15:3
22:2
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Close
on completion, 14:2
COA - cut-off angle, 4:35
COD - cut-off distance, 4:35
Collaborative working, 2:3, 2:8, 14:1, 14:2
Colour
3-D receivers, 13:8
DXF layers, 4:18
ISO, 13:8
Landline layers, 4:16
model objects, 5:2
of noise contours, 10:11
view as, 13:1
Combined source modelling, 10:15
Commit
conflict checking, 5:20
Commit changes, 5:20
Comparing noise levels, 10:6
at tile edges, 10:14
Compatibility
database versions, 18:4
L10 to Lden conversion, 10:5
with earlier versions, 2:5
with v.8.06, 4:36
Computer
display. See Display
hardware, 2:7
number calculating, 14:2
power, 2:7
RAM, 18:5
Conflict
checking for, 5:20
Connect
to calculation queue, 14:1
to database, 4:2
to server, 4:2
Contours. See Ground contours, Noise contours
text output, 16:4
Conversion tolerance
building outlines, 4:29
ground contours, 4:28
road segments, 4:28
Convert layer, 4:25
conversion tolerance, 4:28
defaults, 4:29
omitting small objects, 4:27
outline, 4:27
size of area, 4:25
split at tile boundaries, 4:27
Copy
complete database, 18:3
objects, 5:8
scenarios, 9:3
COR - cut-off reflections, 4:35
Corrections, 16:9, 16:11
on-time, 16:9
CRN calculation method, 10:6
Cross-section, 13:5
ground height evaluation, 13:5
noise contours, 13:6
show/hide information screen, 4:42
CRTN Calculation method, 10:5
Cut/fill lines, 4:28
Cut-off distance, 10:3, 14:2
Database
administration, 18:2
backup, 18:2
Index:
Index:
22:3
calculation settings, 4:37
connect without loading, 4:4
connecting to, 4:2
connecting to stand-alone, 4:2
copying, 18:3
create new stand-alone, 4:1
creating new, 18:2
creating new RailNoise model, 8:1
creating new RoadNoise model, 6:1
creating new SiteNoise model, 7:1
description of, 2:6
export, 12:5
Internet connection, 2:8
load recent, 4:3
loading tiles, 4:8
location of server, 2:11
new connection, 18:1
optimise, 5:21
previewer, 4:4
remote, 2:10
remote type, 2:4
roadnoise only, 8:1
setup, 18:1
stand-alone, 2:10
stand-alone type, 2:4
types of, 2:4, 2:10
user access privileges, 2:5, 18:2
user name and password, 2:10
users, 18:2
versions of, 18:4
DBF, 12:2
Defaults
contour draw method, 10:11
contour drawings, 10:10
cross-section display, 13:6
data download, 4:41
database, 4:3
database calculation settings, 4:37
DXF export settings, 12:2
DXF layer colours, 4:18
layer conversion, 4:29
memory allocation, 18:5
objects to load, 4:4
program options, 4:39
server, 4:3
shapefile format, 4:23, 12:1, 20:1
Delete
calculations from queue, 14:3
ground contours from segments, 4:31
objects, 5:8, 13:3
De-select
objects, 5:6
tile, 4:6, 10:7
Development, 19:1
Digital mapping, 3:2, See also DXF; Shapefiles
Direction
of segments, 4:31
Disappearing
traffic flows, 6:2
Discard button, 6:16
Display
background colour, 13:4
dual screen, 2:1
invisible cursor, 13:4
labels, 13:2
object markers, 5:2
receiver results, 11:14
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
rotating, 5:4
screen size, 2:8
settings, 13:4
shift, rotate or scale, 5:10
Distributed calculation, 10:4, 14:1
DMRB 2008, 4:36
Dongle, 2:9
Downloading. See also Loading
from database, 4:8
noise contours, 10:7
using previewer, 4:7
Duplicate objects
checking for, 13:11
DXF, 4:15
auto chain completion, 4:19
carriageway separation, 4:21
commit conversion, 4:21
conversion tolerance, 4:20, 4:28
converting to NoiseMap, 4:20
curve-fitting dialogue, 4:20
dotted/ dashed lines, 4:19
entities, 4:14
export, 12:2
heights from, 4:19
importing, 4:25
Introduction, 4:13
joining chains, 4:19
layer colour, 4:18
loading file, 4:16
NoiseMap object width, 4:21
offset noise map line, 4:20
reverse segment flow, 4:21
select layers, 4:17
selected dark objects, 4:19
specification for auto conversion, 4:14
version, 4:13
viewing options, 4:17
Edge effect, 4:8, 10:14, 14:4
Edit Co-ordinates, 5:10
Error messages, 16:3
ESRI. See Export ESRI Grid format, See GIS
Excel
exporting to, 12:7
Existing archives
importing, 4:10
Existing files
importing, 4:9
Exit NoiseMap, 10:16
Export
activities to spreadsheet, 7:7
archive, 12:5
ASCII, 12:3
bitmap, 12:2
DXF, 12:2
ESRI grid format, 12:4
full ASCII grid, 12:4
JPEG, 12:2
noise contour in ASCII, 12:3
noise contour in DXF, 12:2
pictures, 12:2
plant data to spreadsheet, 7:2, 12:7
receiver results, 11:14
rectangular area, 12:4
scenario, 12:5
shapefiles, 12:1, 20:1
traffic flows to spreadsheet, 12:6
train vehicle data to spreadsheet, 12:6
22:3
22:4
Find function, 5:4
Fixed workings
adding, 7:5
Flow. See Traffic flow
text output, 16:10
Font size, 4:34
Fractional open area, 5:19
Frequency
spectrum, 7:2
Geographical Information Systems. See GIS
GINO errors, 13:4
Global parameters. See Calculation parameters
Gradient
direction of flow, 4:21
speed correction, 6:5
Graphical
modes, 5:1
object markers, 5:2
window, 5:1
Graphics
card, 2:8
copying, 15:3
display settings, 13:4
export picture, 12:2
Open GL, 13:9
printing, 15:2
Greyed-out
add object, 5:16, 7:5
add object option, 13:3
end of chain, 5:9
for clarity, 13:1
in view-as-colour, 13:2
layers, 4:17
licence options, 2:6
objects, 5:6
options, 8:1, 8:4, 11:2, 18:4
printing option, 15:2
results options, 10:10
to avoid deletion, 5:8
turn on in display options, 13:2
Ground contours, 5:11
adding manually, 5:11
markers, 5:2
view as colour, 13:1
Ground profiles, 4:28
Ground type outlines, 5:13, 5:14
adding manually, 5:13
markers, 5:2
Haul routes. See Routes
Height
above local ground, 4:29
additional, 4:29
automatic generation, 4:15, 4:29
calculation sample points, 4:41
from digital maps, 4:14, 4:29
from digital terrain models, 4:15
in cross-sections, 13:5
obtaining information, 4:14
of buildings, 4:32
of calculation points, 10:2
of exported noise grid, 12:3
of noise barriers, 5:18
of noise source in plant, 7:2
view as colour, 13:1
Help
context-sensitive, 2:2
user manuals, 2:2
22:4
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
Hourly traffic flow, 6:2
Import
activities, 7:3
activities from spreadsheet, 7:7
archive, 4:10
categories and combinations, 4:11
masterfile, 4:9
plant data from spreadsheet, 7:2
traffic flows from spreadsheet, 6:6
train vehicle noise data, 8:2
Inheritance
activity definitions, 9:6
barrier level adjustments, 9:5
calculation parameters, 9:5
categories and combinations, 7:11
chain of, 9:3
geographical objects, 9:4
plant definitions, 9:6
roads, 9:7
rules of, 4:7, 9:3
service definitions, 9:5
traffic flows, 9:7
train vehicle definitions, 9:5
Installation, 2:9
Internet
connection dropped, 14:4
connection not essential, 2:8
security, 2:8
Interpolation
within buildings, 12:4
Invalid noise contours, 10:8
Irish Calculation method, 10:5
Jagged edges, 10:14
JPEG
export, 12:2
Keyboard shortcuts, 21:4
Labels, 13:2, See also Annotation
lines and annotation, 4:34
size, 4:34, 15:2
Laeq, 10:5
LAmax, 7:1
Layer
automatic conversion, 4:14
change colour, 4:18
conversion defaults, 4:29
converting, 4:25
DXF, 4:14
show/hide, 4:17
Lden, 10:2
LEN
text output, 16:10
Length of train
text output, 16:10
Leq, 7:1
Leq at 10 m
text output, 16:9
Leq at 25 m
text output, 16:11
Licence
calculation only, 14:4
options, 2:5
pay as you go, 2:9
permanent, 2:9
RailNoise only, 2:6, 2:9
RoadNoise only, 2:6, 2:9
scope of, 2:9
SiteNoise only, 2:6, 2:9
Index:
Index:
22:5
pay-as-you-go code, 19:3
plant data, 7:1
road segments, 5:9
scenarios, 4:1, 4:7, 5:20, 9:1
scheme, 4:1, 4:13
spot height chains, 5:14
traffic flow, 6:3
train service, 8:2
train vehicle, 8:1
New scheme. See also New scenario
nmse.ini, 18:5
No-data value, 12:4
Noise
spectrum, 7:2
Noise Advisory Council Calculation method, 10:5
Noise barriers, 5:15
absorbent, 5:19
adding manually, 5:15
adjustable, 5:19
building outlines, 4:31, 10:15
chaining together, 5:19
fractional open area, 5:19
ground contours as, 5:15
height, 5:18
height adjustment and scenarios, 9:5
height adjustments setting, 4:39
ID number, 5:16
in cross-section, 13:5
initial memory allocation, 18:5
markers, 5:2
overhanging, 5:19
text output, 16:4, 16:9, 16:12
view as colour, 13:1
width, 5:19
Noise contours
adding and subtracting, 10:7
area breakdown, 10:14
calculating, 10:1
calculation defaults, 4:37
calculation height, 10:2
calculation method, 10:2
changing display, 10:14
colour spectrum, 10:11
comparing situations, 10:6
continuous lines, 10:11
display parameters, 10:8
display range, 10:12
downloading, 10:7
draw method, 10:11
effect of changes, 10:8
effect of model changes, 2:7
export in DXF, 12:2
filled and line-drawn, 10:10
full precision, 10:3
grid spacing, 10:2
inside buildings, 10:10
intervals and rounding, 10:13
invalid, 10:8
jagged, 10:14
loading, 10:7
noise level labels, 10:11
noise level range, 10:10
null results, 10:10
pastel colours, 10:12
PPG 24, 10:13
raw, 10:10
re-calculate valid, 10:4
update, 19:2
Lidar, 4:28
Line
annotation, 4:33
Line type
font size, 4:34
Listen to queue. See Connect to queue
Lnight, 10:2
Loading. See also Import
all traffic flows, 6:2
noise contours, 10:7
noise models, 4:3
recent database, 4:3
shapefiles, 4:22
tiles, 4:3
Local calculation, 10:4
Local height
noise contours, 12:3
of buildings, 4:32
of receivers, 11:4
segments, 4:30, 6:8, 6:9
Log file. See Output Window
Long-sections, 13:5
Maintenance, 19:1
Major barrier
text output, 16:9, 16:11
Map
digital, 3:2
grid, 5:2
tiles, 2:10
MAS. See Masterfile
Masterfile
compatibility, 2:5
importing, 4:9
Measure tool, 5:10
show/hide information screen, 4:42
Memory
initial allocation, 18:5
Menu
structure, 21:1
Modes
graphical, 5:1
Moving objects
by changing co-ordinates, 5:10
with mouse, 5:7
Multiple objects selected, 5:7
MySQL, 18:2
NAC, 10:5
Named areas
creating, 4:6
downloading, 4:8
previewer, 4:6
Naming tiles, 2:10
National Roads Authority
calculation method, 10:5, 11:11
Network connection, 2:8
New
activity, 7:3
category combinations, 4:38
database, 4:1, 18:2
datasource, 4:3
ground contours, 5:11
ground outlines, 5:13
named area, 4:6
noise barriers, 5:15
noise model, 4:2
objects, 4:8
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
22:5
22:6
select contour interval, 10:12
show/hide, 10:9
software fill, 13:4
specifying boundary values, 10:12
unsmoothed, 10:11
valid, 10:8
vertical, 13:6
viewing with bit-map image, 10:11
Noise level
within buildings, 12:4
Noise models
by drawing on screen, 4:13
checking, 13:1
defined, 3:1
from DXF and Shapefiles, 4:13
information needed, 3:2
labelling, 13:2
shift, rotate or scale, 5:10
show parameters, 16:3
NoiseMap Enterprise
differences from, 2:6
importing from, 4:9
transferring data to, 12:5
NoiseMap five
changing to, 2:6
NRA Calculation method, 10:5
Null value, 12:4
Objects
add, modify or delete, 2:11
apply edits on selection change, 4:41
breaking chain, 5:8
copying, 5:8
deleting, 5:8
de-selecting, 5:6
editing co-ordinates, 5:10
flip direction, 5:10
moving, 5:7
multiple selected, 5:7
properties window, 5:7
rotating, 5:10
scaling, 5:10
selecting, 5:5
shifting, 5:10
splitting, 5:7
On-time percentage
text output, 16:8
On-time, equivalent
text output, 16:8
Open GL, 2:8, 13:9
Open sites. See also SiteNoise
Optimise
database, 5:21
Ordnance Survey, 3:8
Landform, 4:15
Landline, 4:14
Outlines. See also Building Outlines
annotation, 4:33
area, 4:33
control download, 4:41
general objects, 4:33
line, 4:33
water, 4:33
Output. See also Export
Contour Analysis, 16:4
possible barriers, 16:4
Output detail
full, 16:4
22:6
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
model summary, 16:12
one line per segment, 16:2
selecting, 16:4
summary, 16:3
Output window, 16:1
all output, 16:3
copying, 16:2
error messages, 16:3
positioning, 16:2
saving, 16:2
Override
default activity properties, 7:7
Panning display, 5:3
Parameters
global. See Calculation parameters
Parent
inherit from, 4:5, 4:7
scenario, 9:1
Pay as you go, 2:9
Pay-As-You-Go
checking user time, 19:5
cost of user time, 19:5
discount points, 19:3
update, 19:2
user time, 19:4
PAYG. See Pay as you go, See Pay as you go
Percent on-time, 3:12
Permissions
database, 2:10
Pictures
exporting, 12:2
Plant, 3:4
entering data, 7:1
importing and exporting, 7:2
in different scenarios, 4:8, 7:2
multiple items in activity, 3:7
Plant data
exporting to spreadsheet, 12:7
Plotting. See Print
Popups and messages
show/hide, 4:42
Position information display, 4:41
Post codes, 4:8
Postcode marker
navigation, 5:5
show/hide, 5:5
PPG24
noise contours, 10:13
Previewer, 4:4
clearing preview, 4:7
downloading with, 4:7
inherit parent tiles checkbox, 4:5
named areas, 4:6
objects, 4:5
scenario icons, 4:5
scenarios, 4:5
Print, 15:1
options, 15:2
scale, 15:1
settings, 13:4
Processing power, 2:7
Program defaults. See Program options
Program options, 4:39
Queue. See Calculation Queue
Quit. See also Abort, Close
Quit distributed calculation queue, 10:16, 14:1
RailNoise, 2:1, 10:6, 11:11
Index:
Index:
22:7
assessment period, 3:12
flow rate, 3:12
licence, 2:6
RailNoise model, 3:8
components of, 3:9
creation sequence, 3:9
Railway tracks, 3:9
adding, 8:4
Railway vehicles. See Train vehicles
Reading. See Loading, Import
Read-only Access, 18:3
Read-write Access, 18:3
Receiver
location details in printout, 16:4
Receivers, 5:20
angle of view, 11:2
calculation at, 11:1
calculation locally, 11:10
calculation method, 11:10
calculation queue, 11:10
calculations in database, 11:13
colour by noise level, 13:1, 13:6, 13:8
display receiver results, 11:14
downloading calculation results, 11:14
exporting results, 11:14
free-field, 11:2
generation of receiver grid, 11:5
generation round building facades, 11:7
height above ground, 11:4
height per floor, 11:4
in cross-sections, 13:6
label with results, 11:13
level of detail, 11:12
limit calculation area, 11:12
manual entry, 11:2
markers, 5:2
noise from each source, 11:14
repeat, 11:4
result to display, 11:12
ROP file, 11:12
surround margin, 11:12
viewing options, 13:3
within building outline, 13:12
Redo, 5:9
Refl'tion
text output, 16:9, 16:12
Remote database. See also: Database, types of
Restoring view, 5:4
Results output, 16:1
Retained cut
parameters, 6:14
segment tool, 4:30
Reverse segment chain, 4:31
RNB files, 4:43
Road segments. See Segments
Road surface, 6:10
low noise, 6:10
RoadNoise model
structure, 3:3
ROP files, 11:12, 12:7
Rotating display, 5:4
Routes, 3:4
adding, 7:5
flow rate, 3:8
Rules of inheritance. See Inheritance, rules of
Save. See also Commit changes
as picture, 12:2
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
changes, 5:20
Scale
changing objects, 5:10
cross-sections, 13:6
noise contours, 10:11
of bitmap, 4:43
of printed maps, 15:1
Scenario
manager, 9:2
Scenarios, 2:10, 9:1
child, 9:3
compare, 4:6
copy, 9:2, 9:3
creating, 9:1
creating new, 9:3
export, 12:5
geographical coverage, 9:1
geographical objects, 9:4
global changes, 9:6
information not specific to, 9:4
inheritance of properties, 9:3
introduction to, 3:7, 3:11
new, 5:20
parent, 9:3
parent and child, 4:7, 9:1
previewer icons, 4:5
removing, 9:2
root, 9:4
rules of inheritance, 4:7
selecting, 4:8
tile coverage, 9:2
using, 9:1
Screen display. See Display
Script
command list, 17:5
command pane, 16:2, 17:1
commands, 17:1
editor, 4:40
files, 17:2
interface, 17:1
variables, 17:4
Scrolling display, 5:3
Secure communication, 2:9
Segment summary
text output, 16:5, 16:10
Segments
1st effective barrier, 6:11
assigning category to, 4:39
carriageway separation, 6:13
carriageway type, 6:11
editing manually, 5:9
elevated roads, 6:9
ground type, 6:11
height calculation, 6:8
initial memory allocation, 18:5
local height, 6:9
markers, 5:2
navigating along, 5:9
properties, 6:7
remove ground contours, 4:31
retained cuttings, 6:14
reverse direction, 4:31
road surface, 6:10
set local height, 4:30
set retained cut, 4:30
texture depth, 6:10
tools, 4:30
22:7
22:8
view as colour, 13:1
Select method (building outlines), 4:32
Selecting
complete chain, 5:6
enclosure method, 5:6
find method, 5:6
from manager screens, 5:6
individual objects, 5:5
tiles, 4:8, 10:7
tiles in previewer, 4:6
Separation
horizontal, 6:13
vertical, 6:13
Server, 2:10
connect to, 4:2
software, 18:2
Services. See Train services
Shapefiles
assume unique rows, 4:24
attributes, 20:1
column mapping, 4:40
column name, 4:23
conversion defaults, 4:29
convert layer, 4:29
default column mapping, 4:23
define usage, 4:22
export, 12:1, 20:1
format, 20:1
ID strings, 4:25
introduction, 4:21
loading, 4:22
reading attributes, 12:8
using with Excel, 12:8
Shortcut
keys, 21:4
SHP, 12:2
SHX, 12:2
Simplifying building outlines, 10:15
SiteNoise, 2:1, 10:6, 11:11
assessment period, 3:8
calculation parameters, 4:36
licence, 2:6
model structure, 3:4
percent on-time, 3:8
plant data, 7:1
sequence of model generation, 3:5
Small schemes
benefits, 2:7
Soft grnd
text output, 16:9, 16:11
Sound power level, 7:1
text output, 16:8
Source type
text output, 16:10
Source-receiver distance
text output, 16:8, 16:11
Speed
maximum, 8:5
text output, 16:10
Split
ground contour, 5:7
objects, 5:7
Spot height chain, 5:14
Spreadsheet
creating calculation queue in, 18:3
creating scripts in, 17:3
exporting plant data to, 12:7
22:8
User Manual: NoiseMap fi√e
exporting results to, 11:12, 12:7
exporting traffic flows to, 12:6
exporting train vehicle data to, 12:6
import and export activities, 7:7
importing traffic flows from, 6:6
SRC
text output, 16:10
SSH, 2:9
Stand-alone database. See also: Database, types of
Starting NoiseMap, 4:1
Status bar, 5:1
Stopping NoiseMap, 10:16
Street names
labelling, 4:34
Surface
correction, 6:10
Surround margin, 4:8, 10:2
effect on valid contours, 10:8
Surrounding tiles, 10:2
SVC
text output, 16:8, 16:10
Text output
activity summary, 16:8
activity type, 16:8
effective barriers, 16:4
equivalent on-time, 16:8
interpretation, 16:3
segment summary, 16:5, 16:10
sound power level, 16:8
Texture depth, 6:10
Tiles, 2:10
colour of, 10:8
de-select, 4:6
downloading, 4:8
familiar names, 2:10, 4:8
information not specific to, 9:4
number in queue, 14:1
preview, 4:4
selecting for noise contour download, 10:7
selecting in previewer, 4:6
surround margin, 4:8, 10:2
TIM - time period, 4:36
Time period
averaging, 10:10
end, 10:10
start, 10:10
traffic flow, 6:2
TNPM calculation method, 10:6
TOIDS, 4:22, 4:25
downloading, 4:42
Tolerance
conversion, 4:28
Track
text output, 16:10
Track correction
text output, 16:11
Track segments
chains of, 8:6
presentation on-screen, 8:7
Track services. See Train services
Traffic flow, 3:3, 6:1
24-hour profile, 6:5
changing values, 6:2
definitions, 6:5
direction, 4:21, 4:31, 6:12
download all, 4:41
editing, 6:1
Index:
Index:
22:9
exporting to spreadsheet, 12:6
flow ID, 6:2, 6:3
flow text, 6:4
from Archive, 4:10, 4:12
from Masterfile, 4:9
from Shapefile, 4:22
importing from spreadsheet, 6:6
load all traffic flows, 6:2
manual editing, 6:3
name, 6:3
rate, 6:5
reference ID number, 6:2
time period, 6:1
type, 6:4
Train service manager, 8:2
Train services, 3:9
adding, 8:2
introduction to, 3:10
location of, 3:11
overriding defaults, 8:6
overriding inherited values, 9:6
positioning, 3:10
putting into workings, 8:6
removing from workings, 8:6
speed, 3:11
symbols in track services window, 8:6
text output, 16:10
Train services total
text output, 16:12
Train vehicle
entering data, 8:1
exporting data to spreadsheet, 12:6
source data, 3:9
Trains. see also RailNoise
TRK
text output, 16:10
Undo, 5:9
Updates
automatic, 19:1
automatic check period, 4:40
via web browser, 19:1
User manual
organisation, 2:2
Users. See Database, users
Valid contours
loading, 10:8
NoiseMap fi√e: User Manual
VCO
text output, 16:10
Vehicle source correction
text output, 16:10
Vehicles. See Train vehicles
Version
of NoiseMap, 19:1
View
3-D, 13:6
as colour, 13:1
centre around bitmap, 4:44
centre around DXF, 4:16
copy to clipboard, 12:2
cross-section, 13:5
grid, 5:2
height as colour, 13:1
height label, 4:15
labels, 13:3
options, 15:2
panning, 5:3
restoring, 5:4
rotating, 5:4
scrolling, 5:3
types of object, 13:2
Water
outlines, 4:33
Web
presentation, 2:4
Welcome screen
show/hide on start-up, 4:42
White screen background, 13:4
WKG
text output, 16:8
Working
text output, 16:8
Working location
assigning activity using spreadsheet, 7:8
putting activity into, 7:5
removing activity from, 7:6
Working locations
adding, 7:4
display size, 7:10, 13:3
routes, 3:5
World files, 4:43
Zooming display, 5:3
22:9