Noise measurement Old Harbour

Municipality of Rotterdam

The municipality would like to understand more about noise pollution in Old Port. When noise is heard, a projection is shown asking visitors to go home quietly.

Last change on 29th of April 2025, at 14:02 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Impactful algorithms
• Impact assessment: IAMA
• Status: In use

General information

Theme

Public Order and Safety

Begin date

01-2025

Contact information

[e-mail]

Link to source registration

https://algoritmeregister.rotterdam.nl/p/Onzealgoritmes/53761720552068394

Responsible use

Goal and impact

PURPOSE: The purpose of the algorithm is to understand noise peaks in Old Harbour. It also looks at whether projection with texts can reduce noise peaks.
IMPACT: The impact of the algorithm is to measure noise levels in an environment. This also measures people's noise levels, but not at the individual level. In addition, a person can be shown a projection when a noise peak is measured.

Considerations

Currently, residents in Old Port are experiencing a lot of noise pollution. This is reflected in the number of reports received by the municipality. To reduce noise nuisance, this algorithm is being deployed. The downside of deploying the system is that more sensors will be hung, which should give a good picture of the actual noise peaks. Since no personal data are processed, it is not expected that individuals will experience nuisance from the deployment of this algorithm. Since the nuisance experienced is expected to be reduced, and the results of the same systems in other cities (Leuven, Paris) are positive, the deployment of this algorithm is proportional.

Human intervention

When the text is projected, there has been no human intervention between the measurement and the projection. However, there is human intervention for the final evaluation

Risk management

No baseline measurement carried out, roles and of third parties not explicitly defined, placement of sensors can be confusing for residents.

Impact assessment

Impact Assessment Mensenrechten en Algoritmes (IAMA)

Operations

Data

Sound peak, Image

Links to data sources

Medusa sensor

Technical design

The municipality of Rotterdam would like to gain insight into the noise nuisance caused by the catering industry and visitors to the Oude Haven entertainment area. The area receives relatively many reports from residents and the perceived noise nuisance is expected to increase due to the extended opening hours for the catering industry. We want to map this with the noise situation by placing two Medusa noise sensors monitoring terrace noise, supplemented by five noise sensors in the traffic areas.

This will allow us to identify what causes the most annoyance. In addition, nudging in the form of projections will also be deployed in the traffic areas. The Medusa sensors will take a picture of the area once every 15 minutes. The image in the focus area will be slightly blurred so that no people can be recognised. Areas outside the focus area will be blurred or completely blacked out so that no recognition of persons can occur (an example of this is available on request). Only the blurred result will be stored. Thus, there will be no processing of personal data in the project.

When determining the type of noise, predefined noise labels are used that can recognise the type of noise. So when a noise peak is measured, the system itself is able to determine whether this peak is caused by voice, music, screaming or, for example, road traffic. So NO sound recordings are made.

The noise labels are pre-set and the system stores what caused the noise. Using a summary from the system, the main noise sources are identified. Ultimately, these labels are reviewed and taken into account in assessing the situation.

External provider

Munisense, Bruitparif, Tabula Rasa, DCMR Environmental Protection Agency Rijnmond