Forget Heatmaps - Bring on the Noise Maps

We don't hear a lot of sound being used with interactive maps. There is the odd ambient sound map, a few maps recording pronunciation or accents and more than a few music maps. What we don't often hear is sound being used as a representation of data.

This Road Traffic Noise Exposure map uses traffic noise to represent road noise in certain parts of the UK. Interestingly the map doesn't use the traffic noise to represent the level of road noise but to indicate the percentage of the population that is exposed to the noise.

The map also uses a more traditional choropleth layer to represent the percentage of the population exposed. You can mouse-over the colored areas on the map to view the exact percentage exposed to street noise in the area over 55dB.