Noise Map Simulation Software – SoundPLAN

SoundPLAN Concepts 

SoundPLAN is not just another noise model. It is a fully integrated noise planning software suite that by design is more flexible, more versatile and faster than others. The quality of the software and the output it produces continues to make SoundPLAN the undisputed market leader with by far the biggest market share worldwide. In this section you can read some of the concepts that earned SoundPLAN this leading market position. 

SoundPLAN Modules 

Experience you can count on 

• Over 20 years of experience in noise model development 
• Experienced, dedicated development team consisting of software developers, program testers and a technical writer for the handbook and documentation 
• The program is available in 14 languages 
• The software fulfills nearly 50 different national and international standards 

Practical program organization 

• Modular by design -buy only the modules you need, extend your portfolio when a new job requires it 
• Not everything from data entry to the last plot in the same screen, but organized so every step is optimally supported with what you need when you need it 
• Calculates in the background -edit your data while the last set of data is still calculating 
• Organization of calculations as a spreadsheet with editing and execute dates and a full account of all parameters and the file name under which the results are saved 
• Update service via the web – click and see if there is a new revision that may already have the tool you just found out you needed 
• Multiple instances of the libraries (System, Global and Project) 
• A complete integration of aircraft noise, indoor factory noise, environmental noise and air pollution make this software completely unique 
• Multi Document application – multiple input files, multiple calculation results, multiple documentation tables and spreadsheets and multiple sheets with varying, multiple content 
• Compare results from multiple calculations in tabular form or view the calculations in depth with Documentation and Spreadsheet 
• True Wall Optimization for single receivers and Façade Noise Maps with the results saved as a Geo-File so that it can be incorporated into the next calculation 

Strategic project organization 

• Situations and Geo-Files – no redundant data, clear organization of variants 
• Tiling automatically manages huge simulation projects including the size of a country (Germany is managed as a single project) 
• User definable noise assessments SoundPLAN data objects 

Impressive graphics capabilities 

• Many different map types and display options can be freely combined for stunning graphics 
• Manage multiple sheets with multiple content all in one tree diagram with copy of elements and settings between them 
• Multiple types of graphics all on the same sheet 
• Triangulated “City Noise Map” with the possibility of 1 calculations and output for single frequencies or frequency bands 
• Flexible with user defined appearance via the object manager 
• Save graphics as a template and use the template in other projects – simply specify the data files and the formatting is done 
• Arithmetic with noise maps – add, subtract- show improvement between before and after scenario 

Superior Calculations with 

• High speed, high accuracy – calculate with projection to the Digital Ground Model 
• Industrial calculations with transmission from indoor to outdoor and outdoor calculations into the environment 
• Traceable and repeatable results that “know” where they come from and what settings were used in their creation 
• Grid Noise Maps, Triangulated receiver mesh noise map, Façade Noise Map, Vertical Grid Noise Map, Single receivers 
• Multi threaded calculations with minimal overhead -on multi core /multi processor PCs run your application with just a few percent overhead (much less than the 40% advertised by Intel) 
• Distributed Computing to scale your application. Use as many networked PCs as you want for the price of a single small module – no extra license fees needed for additional number crunching PCs 
• Ability to calculate and edit your data at the same time 
• Industrial noise with mean frequency, octave bands and third octave band 

The Geo-Database as the core of data entry and manipulations make truly professional work possible 

• Data entry from external files and databases, Digitizing with tablet and on top of bitmaps 
• Zoom, pan, rotate, view with user defined viewports 
• View and select by object type or file 
• Within an object the attributes can change at any coordinate (for example a speed and road surface for a road or the height and absorption coefficient of a noise barrier)