Environmental Noise Mapping with Smartphone Applications: A Participatory Noise Map of West Hartford, CT

This paper reports on the second phase of an on-going study concerning the use of smartphone applications to measure environmental noise at the University of Hartford. This phase involved the development of two strategic noise maps of West Hartford town center: i) a standard noise map developed using traditional mapping techniques and ii) a participatory noise map utilizing smartphone-based measurement data (a citizen-science approach to noise mapping). The objective of the study was to assess the feasibility of developing a noise map using a citizen science based approach. Results suggest that smartphone applications can be used to collect environmental noise data and these data may be used in the development of a participatory noise map.