Presenting Noise Mapping Information to the Public

Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise requires Member States to undertake strategic noise mapping. It also refers to legislation regarding access to the information from strategic noise maps, since it requires “that the strategic noise maps ... are made available and disseminated to the public in accordance with relevant Community legislation ... and in conformity with Annex IV ... to this Directive.” Under its terms of reference for 2007 the European Environment Agency's (EEA) Working Group on the Assessment of Exposure (WG‐AEN) was asked to produce a Position Paper containing the Group's ideas and suggestions on good practice and associated strategies for presenting noise mapping information to the public at local and national levels. Many of these ideas and suggestion were developed from the outcomes of a workshop held in London in October, 2006. The final draft of the Position Paper was completed in December, 2007. This conference paper and associated verbal presentation will provide an overview of the contents of the Position Paper and report on developments since December, 2007.