Noise map: professional versus crowdsourced data

Abstract

The goal of the recent study is to evaluate the usability of the data measurement capability of an average smartphone and make a comparative study on available open source mobile applications potentially suitable to noise mapping. In the study a dataset generated by professional equipment was used as a reference. The study confirmed that the mobile applications running on the smartphones tested are not capable for scientific measurement although correlation suggest that calibration may lead to reasonably accurate noise level capture. The study also revealed that different mobile applications produce different outputs. These type of user generated noise measurements cannot substitute professional surveys but can contribute to noise monitoring to testing the effect of the action plans created by the settlements in order to reduce noise pollutions.