Application of GIS in Urban Traffic Noise Pollution

Large urban areas are facing growing problems of noise pollutions. Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) can conveniently be adapted to gather, analyze and present noise information. GIS can also be extended to answer to user specific problems through deterministic and statistics models. The objectives of this research were to measure urban traffic noise levels, analyze temporal and spatial dynamics of urban traffic-induced noise pollution in the first districted of Tehran estimate the noise for pollution concentration, assess the results of Federal Highway Administration Traffic Noise Model (FHWA-TNM) and Iranian Traffic Noise Predictor (ITNP); and represent them in a GIS environment. Measurements were done at the traffic peak time and also when the traffic was at its minimum, during three successive months. In this study, Leq, L10, L50, L90, Lmax and Lmin were gathered. The results demonstrated that most of commercial and residential regions surrounding the main streets are suffering from sever noise pollution. Processed data, spatial analysis and models are integrated within the framework of ArcGIS software environment, providing adequate tools to address noise issues. The assessment showed that the issue of noise pollution is currently ignored in urban regulations concerning environmental quality.