ABSTRACT
According to Directive 2002/49/EC, noise maps are only a rst nevertheless important step to develop effective and sustainable noise reduction measures and to decrease the exposure in the vicinity of trafc sources in agglomerations. It is further necessary to show the areas where noise reduction measures should be planned and executed with rst priority based on the strategic noise maps. It is obvious that these “hot spots” are not necessarily the areas with highest noise levels, because the real urgency to take action depends on the number of people exposed. Even areas with high noise levels may not be a severe problem if nobody lives there.
