"NOT 311" Noise Report

The gensis of No More Noise Toronto is the "Not 311" Noise Report and we are happy to say that the report has done it's job, thanks to our community. We have now closed these surveys and are looking forward to building a new set that will serve everyone even better.

These surveys were a way that people, for the first time, could eaily make a noise report, for many sources, and see their responses along with everyone else's. With over 12,000 noise reports, we created a data set external to the city for the public to leverage and for the first time had a visual picture of noise and detailed data on vehicle noise. This gave us the confidence to send emails and speak during the City of Toronto Noise Bylaw Review. Our win? The City now collects all noise reports at all times, vastly improving their dataset.

Many, many, thanks to everyone who logged a point, sent an email and spoke to Committees. This is where our voices came together for a better sounding, more liveable city.

Below are 2 images of the final dashboards of all noise reports over the life of the survey.

NMNT provides professional work experience as a credit to the University of Toronto. This data was processed and analyzed by using python and jupyter notebooks. Then it was enriched, by adding in days of the week and weather, which told us on what days and hours noise was most likely to be reported, and in what kind of weather. They confirm most of what we already know. We are most likely (because it is noisy) on clear and overcast days. And the most likely time we are to report is from 1 to 2 am.

And of course if those non wet roads are on weekends, that is also when it is loudest, so we are more likely to be annoyed and make a report.

Another noise survey is on the drawing board, many felt somehow "better" when they could log that report. It also proved itself worthy from an empowerment and engagement tool, that effectively communicated to City Staff and Councillors how bad the urban noise problem is in Toronto.

Thank you to all who participated and to Ryan for his great work.