software maintenance

SoundPLAN Graphics

The SoundPLAN Graphics consist of many different parts:

Mapping tools to configure the appearance of any object.
Basic Maps with level charts - single point calculations with source direction diagrams.
Grid Noise Maps - receivers in a grid .
Facade Noise Maps - receivers automatically arranged along a facade.
City Noise Maps - area map based on triangulated receivers rather than a grid.
Cartography - enhancement of any of the graphics.
Vertical Grid Noise Maps - noise maps along a cross section line.
3D Graphics - wire frame or solid modeling in combination with noise maps.
3D Animation - Drive on a road through the model and store this as an AVI movie.

The drawing area in SoundPLAN Graphics is called a sheet. Like any element in the Graphics, it can be customized to the user's taste.

Because SoundPLAN is not a single document application, but manages multiple Situations and Geo-files and generates many map results of a variety of types, the first step to creating a graphic is to select the map type and load the data.

In the File Selection Manager, select the file type and the files to be included in the graphics. Clicking on the file and then on the transfer arrow activates the file. Some files will want more information. For example, the Situations will show which texts can automatically be generated and placed. In the situation pictured above, the railway stationing and the reference to the noise protection wall are drawn automatically. SoundPLAN manages multiple Geo-Files, multiple Situations and multiple noise maps in the same drawing.

SoundPLAN can also arrange multiple drawings on one sheet. Object setups, scales and legends can be shared or defined for each individual map. (Multiple maps require the Cartography module.)

It is also possible to generate text and legend boxes that are organized hierarchically. The flexibility of the SoundPLAN Graphics allows the generation of very complex maps and drawings. Because the formatting can initially take a lot of time, SoundPLAN stores the maps in their finished state or as templates where the formatting can be edited later.

Although editing maps employs wysiwyg, the coordinates, scale factors and rotation make it possible to exactly reproduce a map with different content but the same viewport, or to produce maps with exact scale factors.

The appearance of maps is controlled by the object setup, which is defined from a template and can be customized for each individual map.

The above map shows the same basic geometry with different content and different object definitions.

Further details concerning the Graphics can be seen in the descriptions of individual Graphics modules (Grid Noise Map, Facade Noise Map...).

Last modification: 15 January 2004