Crowd mapping Canton of Geneva's soundscape

EPFL is asking Android users who visit or live in Canton of Geneva to record the sounds around them with a special app. The data will be used to create a sound map, which will provide researchers with information on the quality of life there. 'We are trying to collect as many sound recordings made all over Canton of Geneva as possible - both pleasant and unpleasant sounds. Even nature sounds are useful, as they will help us learn more about the canton's biodiversity,' said Stéphane Joost, a geographer at EPFL's Laboratory of Geographic Information Systems (LASIG). Thanks to a new app called NoiseCapture, the general public can help map Canton of Geneva's soundscape. Users just need to be in Canton of Geneva to make the recordings using an Android smartphone. NoiseCapture came out of a European open-data research project called ENERGIC OD. The app parameters were developed by Lab-STICC - a multi-disciplinary research lab that is part of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and based in Vannes (Brittany) - and acoustic specialists at the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks (IFSTTAR). The app is just one component of a larger project called NoisePlanet, which offers a number of open-source noise-measurement tools. At EPFL, Stéphane Joost is responsible for analyzing the data, which are displayed on a map. 'The Swiss government already has a sound map of Switzerland called SonBASE. What's different about NoiseCapture is that it lets people describe sounds using key words.' How does it work?