Resumen de Noise map from two computer programs. Analysis of differences
Miguel Arana Burgui, Ricardo A. San Martín, Iñaki Nagore Esparza, David Pérez, María Luisa San Martín Erviti
The European Commission Working Group Assessment of Exposure to Noise drew up a Position Paper with the aim to help Member States and their competent authorities undertake noise mapping and produce the associated data as required by the European Noise Directive. It was not meant to be a manual for strategic noise mapping but provided advice on specific issues that were raised initially by Member States. The Position Paper recognized that some of these issues are quite complicated and have been dealt with in detail. Really, when a unique variable is dealt with, it is not complicated to quantify its influence on the calculation but-in general- many variables are mixed up in the calculation. Using similar configurations from two popular commercial programs, noise maps of the agglomeration of Pamplona, Spain, were obtained. Although the differences, in general, are little many improvements are needed. Detailed analyses of the differences found in the results lead us to conclude that a great precision in algorithms is needed to obtain reliable results. The most important reasons explaining such differences are a) the algorithm of visibility and b) the different implementation of the propagation under homogeneous and favourable atmospheric conditions.
