Participatory Sensing and Noise Mapping for a Systematic Noise Data Collection and Analysis in Moscow: A Proof-of-Concept Study

Participatory sensing and voluntary noise mapping enable a person-centric collection of environmental measurement data which can lead to an increased interest in environmental issues and may encourage more people to participate in environmental projects. However, given the rapid technological progress, there is a clear lack of modern studies that propose a compatible and up-to-date tool for noise sensing. In this paper a concept of a fundamentally new infrastructure was developed and proposed to address the issues of unsystematic data availability, transparency, and visualization in Moscow. This goal was achieved by organizing a citizen science experiment in which a 1.68 km2 study area in Moscow was mapped using a specially designed Telegram chatbot as a main element of a participatory sensing infrastructure for measuring sonic environment. On the technical side, an infrastructure was organized that was based on a Telegram chatbot @noise_crowdsource_bot and a server that stored, analyzed, and visualized noise level data. At the citizen side, I collaborated with 17 volunteers that took part in a one-day experiment on March 27. The received results have proven the concept of a proposed infrastructure and revealed that to scale the infrastructure it is necessary to perform a calibration method for a much wider range of modern smartphones. As the result, suggestions on how to achieve a systematic approach towards noise monitoring in Moscow were made, a measurement-based analysis was conducted, and a noise map of the target area was created.