Recent Posts

51

Support / Why have some scenarios disappeared from the database previewer?

« Last post by roger on October 31, 2015, 12:30:41 AM »

Versions of NoiseMap up to 5.1.5 have a limit of 250 characters on the total length of the scenario name and the scenario description. If you have very long scenario names or very long descriptions, you could exceed this limit. In this case the database previewer may not display the scenario tree correctly.

We suggest that you open the scenario manager and shorten either/or the scenario name and the description, which should fix the problem.

(NB it is also possible to use the scenario manager to hide scenarios.)

52

Support / How does inheritance work for NoiseMap Activity Manager?

« Last post by roger on October 31, 2015, 12:23:35 AM »

If you change any property of an activity in a child scenario, that activity will no longer inherit any changes to that activity made in the parent scenario.  Up to version 5.1.5 of NoiseMap, the 'root scenario' of an activity is not shown, so it is not easy to tell from where each particular activity is inheriting its properties. 

We therefore advise users to check carefully whenever they change the properties of an activity which is the parent of other activities, to ensure that inheritance is occurring as expected.

53

Support / Noise says it can't find the server and to contact the administrator. Who?

« Last post by roger on October 31, 2015, 12:13:06 AM »

I understand that you are using the 'Standalone' or 'Flat file' system and so you don't need a separate database server. So why are you being told that NoiseMap can't find the server and why are you asked to contact the administrator?

First, it is important to understand that although you don't use a database server (and therefore you don't have a database administrator either), the 'Flat file' is still a database: even though it is a self-contained one that looks like an ordinary Windows file. In fact, when you 'commit changes' to the 'database', NoiseMap uses a special 'driver' to write these changes into the database file. (That's why NoiseMap says 'commit' rather than 'save'.)  In fact, as part of the NoiseMap installation, this special driver is copied to your computer and it manages all the database communication between NoiseMap software and your computer.

So there are at least two possible reasons for getting this error message.  The first is that the database driver has not been correctly installed (and you should have seen an error screen informing you of this.) If you have never been able to start NoiseMap, this is the most likely cause of the problem and you should repeat the installation, making sure you have full administrator privileges first.

If NoiseMap has been working and this message appears, the most likely cause is that the connection between your computer and the database file has been lost. The connection is established when you first connect to the database and must remain open until you exit NoiseMap. But many networks will 'time out' a connection that has not been used for a while.  This is the usual reason for the problem.  You need to contact your network administrator to ask them to extend the timeout to a long period.  Alternatively, locate the database file on your own hard drive and just back it up to the network daily (using Windows' file copy).

If your computer hangs with this message, you may be able to crash out of it in which case when you restart NoiseMap, you may be able to recover the backup file and then commit any changes back to the database.

54

Hints and Tips / SiteNoise - Best to adjust the % ontime in Activity manager or at the workings?

« Last post by roger on October 23, 2015, 12:45:28 AM »

You can set the % on-time of an activity either at the workings or in the Activity Manager, so which is best?

It is important to remember that if you have a number of scenarios, the properties of child scenarios are inherited from the parents, and this includes the activities.  However, if you make a change in a child scenario, this usually breaks the inheritance from the parent.

In the case of Activities,  although there is only one list of activities in SiteNoise, the properties of an activity can be different in each child scenario, but as soon as you change any property of an activity, for example the plant involved or the % on-times, it will lose any further inheritance from its parent.  Thus, if you add an extra item of plant in the parent, this will not be carried down to the child once inheritance has been broken: moreover it is not possible to restore the inheritance once it has been broken.

However the advantage of changing the properties of an activity in the activity manager is that the change will automatically be conveyed to all the workings that use that activity (in the current scenario), so you do not have to worry that you have loaded all the tiles, for example.

On the other hand, if you make the change in, say % on-time or speed, at the working location(s), you can always set the value back to the default (i.e. the value set in the activity manager).  You can, of course, select all the locations using a given activity by clicking the button in the Activity Manager, and then edit all these locations at once.  So is this the best option? Not necessarily: you have to make sure that all the affected tiles have been loaded, and you also have to make sure that the activity has been allocated to all the workings you wish to change.  If you add the activity to another location, it will be given the default value (the value current in the Activity Manager).

The original purpose of allowing activity properties to change at each working location was to allow properties like plant speed to vary along a haul route: the assumption was that you would edit the non-location specific properties in the activity manager, and this is probably the best way of using these tools. But unfortunately, there is no indicator in the NoiseMap (up to version 5.1.5) to show the root scenario of activities, nor when inheritance has been broken.

55

Announcements / NoiseMap 5.1.5

« Last post by roger on October 19, 2015, 03:47:07 PM »

NoiseMap 5.1.5 is now available for download. 
You can link to this from within NoiseMap - go to Help>Check for Software/Licence updates.

The update contains a number of important improvements to existing functionality, as listed below:

•Added train service export and enhanced import to GUI and script with support for multiple input formats
•Added receiver export "all hours" option to output individual hourly results for 24-hour calculations
•Added barrier "draw end marker" view option to control whether barrier "I" marker is drawn on screen and in DXF export
•Added links to manuals, guides and worked examples folders to main Help menu
•Added "type" parameter (options "all", "headline" and "allhours") to "export results" script command
•Added the ability to scale DXF real values on DXF import by specifying a scale factor (multiplier) in a "dxfrealscale" script variable
•Renamed "CRN LAeq (TNPM)" and "CRN Lmax" to "TNPM LAeq" and "TNPM Lmax", and added script "tnpmaleq" and "tnpmlmax" calculation method options
•Tidied up the formatting of segment number in per-segment log output to show complete 6 digit integers (previously included ".0")
•Fixed problems/crash in multi-core calculations when using a non-0 origin
•Fixed intermittent sitenoise calculation crash if receiver is on an exact horizontal line to the right of fixed working (ie. same y co-ordinate)
•Fixed poor noise contour display auto-range when the lowest noise value is negative
•Tidied up the calculation display method selection and display text to show default, generic and explicitly timed L10 and Leq options

If you use any of these features, we advise you to upgrade now.


What's next?
We are working on a fully-featured results post-processor.  This will enable you to make complex manipulations of noise contours and perhaps more importantly, of Receiver Results.  We believe this will create a step-change in noise assessment methodology.

The results processor will allow any number of data sets to be added and subtracted, both arithmetically and in decibel terms, and for logical processing, eg to identify those receivers exceeding a particular level or a particular change of levels and for the worst-affected façade to be automatically identified.  The purpose is to allow impact assessments to be made within NoiseMap.

We are likely to be releasing these features in stages to ensure that they are fully tested and we expect the first release to take place soon.

We would strongly advise users to keep their maintenance up to date, as these feature will be available without additional charge only to those with current maintenance.

56

Support / Why have my route workings segments got red crosses along them?

« Last post by roger on October 02, 2015, 06:52:52 PM »

Red crosses indicate there is an incompatible activity assigned to the route working. In this case “Utility diversion - Water” contains a Stationary plant so it’s only suitable for a fixed working. When manually adding an activity to a working you shouldn’t be able to select an incompatible activity, but it is possible to edit an assigned activity later on and make it incompatible.

57

Support / NoiseMap Standalone version can't connect to database

« Last post by roger on August 12, 2015, 11:20:30 PM »

I've just installed NoiseMap Standalone Version but when I try to run an example, it tells me that it can't connect to the database.  But I thought it didn't need a database?

The standalone version of NoiseMap has a built-in database driver which should be set up automatically during the installation. Thereafter, it is invisible to users.  Most probably this set-up failed.  The most likely reason is that you did not have sufficient administrator privileges during the set-up.  Repeat the installation with FULL admin privileges so that the database libraries are correctly installed.

If this does not work, then please check that your network access rights are sufficient, although we generally advise that it is best to have the database file (files of type .nmdb) on your local drive, as network blockages can result in failure to save changes.  Remember to take a backup of your .nmdb files at least at the beginning or end of every working day, just in case of database corruption.

58

Support / What does it mean when the result of a calculation is -99 dB?

« Last post by roger on August 12, 2015, 11:06:40 PM »

This value of -99 dB is a 'null' result, which means that no noise level could be calculated for that situation. 
It does not mean that the result was just very small.
There are many ways in which a null result can be generated, the most common are noted in the following list:

• The calculation position is inside a building envelope so a result cannot be calculated
• The receiver point cannot 'see' any noise source - none of the noise sources are within the angle of view of the receiver point
• There were no noise sources within the given cut-off distance
• There is no noise level for the particular combination of categories: for example, if Category 13 is for railway sources and you are looking at the results for CRTN calculations, Category 13 will have null results
• An error prevented a particular calculation from completing
• A particular receiver was excluded from the calculation list

You should carefully check to ensure that null results are correctly null and not the result of an error.

Future editions of NoiseMap will include improved tools for handling null results.

59

Support / Activities in SiteNoise are missing in the Workings drop-down list

« Last post by roger on August 12, 2015, 10:48:42 PM »

I've created a lot of workings in the SiteNoise Activities Manager, but when I want to put them into workings, they are missing from the drop-down list.  Why?

When you create activities using SiteNoise Activities Manager, you can add as many plant to each activity as you want. You have to say whether each item of plant is Stationary, Haul or Mobile.  If you choose stationary for the first one, then you will be offered stationary for the others, although SiteNoise does not stop you changing this to, say, mobile.  And that is what you have done. 

So each of your activities contains both stationary and mobile plant.  But you can only put stationary activities into stationary (fixed) workings and you can only put mobile or haul activities into 'route' workings.  The result - none of your activities can be put onto either stationary or route workings. So the drop-down list is empty!

The solution is to split the activities so that one set has only stationary plant and the other has only haul or mobile plant. And likewise, put in some stationary working locations as well as your mobile ones.

60

Hints and Tips / I'd like to be able to label noise sources with the noise contribution they give

« Last post by roger on July 16, 2015, 09:09:15 PM »

You probably know that if you select one receiver and then execute the function Calculate>Show Source Contribution, this will colour each source (road segment, rail track or working location) according to the contribution that each source makes at the selected receiver.  You can change the view-as-colour range to home in on the actual noise level, but you can't label the source with the noise level.

But there is another way of doing it.  Choose the receiver you're interested in and then go to Calculate>Selected Receivers, choose the calculation method and select one line per segment output.  You will get a one line summary of the calculation of noise at the selected receiver for each source.   The beauty of this approach is that you will get the contribution of each activity (if you're doing SiteNoise) and also a list of all the corrections.  This can help you to check on the details of each contribution and might help you to find errors.