Abstract

Application of GIS to rail transit noise and vibration prediction
Track: Transportation
Authors: Silas Bensing, Richard Carman, Gary Glickman

ArcGIS was used on a recent project that involved predicting noise and vibration levels for community receptors along a future rail transit alignment. A detailed assessment of noise and vibration impacts from rail transit requires a substantial amount of information pertaining to the source, path, and receivers along the rail transit corridor (e.g., train speed, track type, track elevation, distance to receiver, ground type, shielding, land use, building type, existing noise and vibration, etc.). This presentation will discuss the input data and variables needed for modeling noise and vibration levels associated with the project. Explanation will be given on how ArcGIS was used to prepare the input data, apply variables, and calculate spatial relationships between the various data sources necessary for the prediction model. Examples will be provided to illustrate how the input data and assessment results were visualized both for internal quality assurance purposes and report presentation.