Potential quiet areas in Europe, based upon Quietness Suitability Index (QSI), Aug. 2016
Description
Within the European Union, the Environmental Noise Directive (END, 2002/49/EC) defines quiet areas outside cities as those areas delimited by national authorities that are undisturbed by noise from traffic, industry or recreational activities. The report ‘Quiet areas in Europe: the environment unaffected by noise pollution,’ provides a first mapping assessment of potential quiet areas in Europe’s rural regions. Approximately 18% of Europe’s area can be considered quiet, but 33% is potentially affected by noise pollution, the report finds. This dataset underpins the assessment and is based on the quietness suitability index (QSI), which provides the overview with the highest (QSI=1) and lowest (QSI=0) proportion of potential quiet areas in Europe. The data set is provided in both GDB and TIFF formats.