Staab, J.* ; Droin, A.* ; Weigand, M.* ; Dallavalle, M. ; Wolf, K. ; Schady, A.* ; Lakes, T.* ; Wurm, M.* ; Taubenböck, H.*
     
 
    
        
Pixels, chisels and contours - technical variations in European road traffic noise exposure maps.
    
    
        
    
    
        
        J. Environ. Manage. 385:125475 (2025)
    
    
    
		
		
			
				Motorized traffic often causes road noise directly in front of our homes and windows. Yet long-term exposure to noise impact life's quality and can potentially cause negative effects on human health. Furthermore, social and behavioral effects have been measured. To protect people's health and well-being from such noise, the European Noise Directive (END, 2002/49/EC) obliges countries to produce strategic noise maps every five years for large agglomerations and along major roads, which are then used for noise action planning. Besides that, the official noise maps are a valuable data source for environmental exposure analyses. However, the END has some limitations. The definition of urban agglomerations is vague, different input parameterizations lead to data inconsistencies across administrative units, undefined post processing methods introduce geometric artifacts, and topological errors incompliant to the common Simple Features Implementation Specification hinder working with the published geodata. The aim of this article is to provide practical insights for end-users and stipulate for concise regulations. Moreover, we highlight that these variations limit the comparability of maps in environmental impact assessments. We compile 84 separate noise assessments in Germany reported according to the END to review shape and structure of the geographic data. Graphical representations are used to show in particular how vertices are connected to polygons in noise contour maps and that these geometric alterations effect the eventual statistics on exposed population shares. We aggregate spatial metrics to assess the reported data's spatial properties in an automatic manner, e.g. when receiving data in future mapping rounds. Along with our quality assessment, a nation-wide dataset on road traffic noise was produced. Depicting the yearly averaged noise level indicator Lden, which integrates exposure at day, evening and night, for 2017, it serves as common ground for environmental health analyses. The examination of different raster to polygon conversion implementations is fundamental to other geodata managers outside the domain of noise mapping, as well.
			
			
				
			
		 
		
			
				
					
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        Publikationstyp
        Artikel: Journalartikel
    
 
    
        Dokumenttyp
        Wissenschaftlicher Artikel
    
 
    
        Typ der Hochschulschrift
        
    
 
    
        Herausgeber
        
    
    
        Schlagwörter
        Environmental Noise Exposure ; European Noise Directive (end) ; Open Data Publication ; Road Traffic Noise ; Topological Errors ; Transport Emissions; Environmental Noise; Pollution; Health; Indicators; Impacts; Matter
    
 
    
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        Sprache
        englisch
    
 
    
        Veröffentlichungsjahr
        2025
    
 
    
        Prepublished im Jahr 
        0
    
 
    
        HGF-Berichtsjahr
        2025
    
 
    
    
        ISSN (print) / ISBN
        0301-4797
    
 
    
        e-ISSN
        1095-8630
    
 
    
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	    Band: 385,  
	    Heft: ,  
	    Seiten: ,  
	    Artikelnummer: 125475 
	    Supplement: ,  
	
    
 
  
        
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            Verlag
            Elsevier
        
 
        
            Verlagsort
            24-28 Oval Rd, London Nw1 7dx, England
        
 
	
        
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        Begutachtungsstatus
        Peer reviewed
    
 
    
        Institut(e)
        Institute of Epidemiology (EPI)
Helmholtz AI - DLR (HAI - DLR)
    
 
    
        POF Topic(s)
        30202 - Environmental Health
    
 
    
        Forschungsfeld(er)
        Genetics and Epidemiology
    
 
    
        PSP-Element(e)
        G-504000-001
G-504000-007
    
 
    
        Förderungen
        Networking Fund
    
 
    
        Copyright
        
    
 	
    
    
    
    
    
        Erfassungsdatum
        2025-05-11