FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY DOCUMENTATION

TITLE: FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NOISE ABATEMENT BARRIERS - 2013

Geodataset Name:       NOISE_BARRIERS_DEC13
Geodataset Type:       SHAPEFILE
Geodataset Feature:    Polyline
Feature Count:         489
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
This dataset contains the Florida Department of Transportation's (FDOT) noise abatement barriers. This is an update to the NOISE_BARRIERS_SEP13.shp FGDL layer.
DATA SOURCE(S):                    Florida Department of Transportation, Environmental Management Office
SCALE OF ORIGINAL SOURCE MAPS:     Varies
GEODATASET EXTENT:                 State of Florida
PUBLICATION DATE: 20131209 TIME PERIOD OF CONTENT: Begin Date: 20040101 End Date: 20091106 DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.fgdl.org/metadataexplorer/explorer.jsp

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES:

Datafile Name: NOISE_BARRIERS_DEC13.DBF
ITEM NAME WIDTH TYPE
OBJECTID
4 OID
Shape
4 Geometry
NBID
25 String
ROADWAY
25 String
BEGIN_POST
13 String
END_POST
11 String
FPN_NO
10 String
RCI
8 Double
GROUP_
100 String
APPROX_LOC
55 String
STATE_FIPS
8 Double
FDOT_DISTR
10 String
COUNTY_FIP
8 Double
COUNTY_F_1
15 String
COUNTY_NAM
25 String
ROAD_DESCR
20 String
WALL_ID
8 Double
SECTION_
8 Double
BARRIER_ID
22 String
WPI_ID
8 Double
FM_ID
9 String
CONTRACTOR
19 String
MATERIAL
21 String
BLOC_ONRTE
20 String
B_LOC_SIDE
12 String
LEN_METER
8 Double
LEN_FEET
8 Double
HGT_METER
8 Double
HGT_FEET
8 Double
AREA_METER
8 Double
AREA_FT
8 Double
G_LENGTH
8 Double
OVERLAP
10 String
TOTAL_COST
8 Double
COST_MET
8 Double
COST_FT
8 Double
PREDICTED
8 Double
MEASUE
8 String
B_COORD
30 String
E_COORD
30 String
BEG_X
16 String
BEG_Y
15 String
END_X
9 String
END_Y
9 String
FR_LAT
8 Double
FR_LONG
8 Double
T_LAT
8 Double
T_LONG
8 Double
COMMENTS
205 String
NOTES
250 String
NOTES2
50 String
PIC
80 String
PDF_LINKS
80 String
REVIEWED
20 String
TYPE
20 String
SOURCE
50 String
YR_BUILT
15 String
DESCRIPT
20 String
FGDLAQDATE
36 Date
AUTOID
4 Integer
SHAPE.LEN
0 Double

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES CODES AND VALUES:

Item
Item Description
OBJECTID Internal feature number.

Shape Feature geometry.

NBID Key identifer created by CUES. The Key Identifier developed for this project is a combination of FDOT's multiple unique identifiers including identifiers that distinguish each individual District office as well as the county the wall is located in. See NOISE_ABATEMENT_BARRIERS.pdf

ROADWAY Roadway characteristic ID index

BEGIN_POST Beginning Mile Post. For Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions created featurs this is derived from D6 fields

END_POST End Mile Post. For Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions created featurs this is derived from D6 fields

FPN_NO FPN number

RCI Roadway characteristic index from 2000 inventory

GROUP_ No definition available.

APPROX_LOC Approximate barrier location

STATE_FIPS Statewide FIPS code

FDOT_DISTR FDOT district ID

COUNTY_FIP County FIPS code

COUNTY_F_1 County FIPS code 2

COUNTY_NAM County name

ROAD_DESCR RCI roadway description

WALL_ID Wall ID - 2000 inventory

SECTION_ Section - 2000 inventory

BARRIER_ID Barrier ID - 2000 inventory

WPI_ID WPI_ID - 2000 inventory

FM_ID Derived from D6 fields - Recommended fields by D6

CONTRACTOR Contractor

MATERIAL Construction material

BLOC_ONRTE Barrier location on route

B_LOC_SIDE Side of road where barrier is located

LEN_METER Length in meters

LEN_FEET Length in feet

HGT_METER Height in meters

HGT_FEET Height in feet

AREA_METER Area in meters

AREA_FT Area in feet

G_LENGTH Length generated by GIS

OVERLAP Overlapping walls

TOTAL_COST Total cost

COST_MET Cost per meter

COST_FT Cost per feet

PREDICTED Predicted

MEASUE Measure

B_COORD Coordinates of barrier beginning

E_COORD Coordinates of barrier ending

BEG_X Derived from D6 fields

BEG_Y Derived from D6 fields

END_X Derived from D6 fields

END_Y Derived from D6 fields

FR_LAT From latitude

FR_LONG From longitude

T_LAT To latitude

T_LONG To longitude

COMMENTS Comments

NOTES General notes about barrier. If available contains online linkage to view barrier.

NOTES2 General notes continued

PIC Pic hyperlink to path

PDF_LINKS PDF hyperlink to path

REVIEWED How barrier was reviewed/verified. The majority of barriers were reviewed using google street view and ESRI's online imagery.

TYPE Type of barrier, either planned or constructed

SOURCE Source of feature. The actual source of all barrier info is FDOT. This field denotes which organization created the feature in this dataset for FDOT.

YR_BUILT Year built
TBD = To be determined

0 = Unknown


DESCRIPT FGDL added field based on ROAD_DESCR

FGDLAQDATE The date FGDL acquired the data from the source.

AUTOID Unique ID added by GeoPlan

SHAPE.LEN Length in meters


USER NOTES:
This data is provided 'as is'. GeoPlan relied on the integrity
of the original data layer's topology
This data is provided 'as is' by GeoPlan and is complete to our
knowledge.
GeoPlan relied on the integrity of the attribute information within
the original data.
Summary of Noise Barriers Constructed by December 31, 2010
Publication Number - FHWA-HEP-12-044
Abstract: This paper contains a listing of all noise barriers constructed with 
highway program monies since 1973, as reported by State highway agencies. The
listing is updated every three years and contains information on length, height, 
cost, material, location, and year constructed for each State. It is intended for all 
audiences.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/noise/noise_barriers/inventory/summary/sstates7.pdf


APPLICATIONS OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS)
FOR HIGHWAY TRAFFIC NOISE ANALYSIS
Case Studies of Select Transportation Agencies
November 2012
http://www.gis.fhwa.dot.gov/documents/GIS_for_Highway_Traffic_Noise_Analysis.htm

The data was created to serve as base information for use in GIS systems 
for a variety of planning and analytical purposes.

This data is provided 'as is' and its horizontal positional accuracy
has not been verified by GeoPlan

This data is provided 'as is' and its vertical positional accuracy
has not been verified by GeoPlan

None

The Florida Geographic Data Library is a collection of Geospatial Data
compiled by the University of Florida GeoPlan Center with support from
the Florida Department of Transportation. GIS data available in FGDL is
collected from various state, federal, and other agencies (data sources)
who are data stewards, producers, or publishers. The data available in
FGDL may not be the most current version of the data offered by the
data source. University of Florida GeoPlan Center makes no guarantees
about the currentness of the data and suggests that data users check
with the data source to see if more recent versions of the data exist.

Furthermore, the GIS data available in the FGDL are provided 'as is'.
The University of Florida GeoPlan Center makes no warranties, guaranties
or representations as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of the data
provided by the data sources. The University of Florida GeoPlan Center
makes no representations or warranties about the quality or suitability
of the materials, either expressly or implied, including but not limited
to any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular
purpose, or non-infringement. The University of Florida GeoPlan Center
shall not be liable for any damages suffered as a result of using,
modifying, contributing or distributing the materials.

A note about data scale: 

Scale is an important factor in data usage.  Certain scale datasets
are not suitable for some project, analysis, or modeling purposes.
Please be sure you are using the best available data. 

1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
county level.
1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base mapping such
as property parcel boundaries.
1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
multi-county or regional level.
1:125000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
regional or state level or larger.

Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should be
considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with your data
before using it for projects or analysis. Every effort has been
made to supply the user with data documentation. For additional
information, see the References section and the Data Source Contact
section of this documentation. For more information regarding
scale and accuracy, see our webpage at:
http://geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html

REFERENCES:
Detailed metadata provided by CUES:
NOISE_ABATEMENT_BARRIERS.pdf 
Contact Christina Bryk Center of Urban and
Environmental Solutions (CUES) Florida Atlantic 
University 111 East Las Olas Blvd, Suite 709
Fort Lauderdale, Fl 33301 

(954) 762-5255 / Fax: (954) 762-5666 

Center for Urban Environmental Solutions:
http://www.cuesfau.org/ 
http://www.cuesfau.org/projects/project.asp?ProjectID=107 

FDOT June 2000 Noise Barrier Status Report (Spreadsheet) Contact:
win.lindeman@dot.state.fl.us for details.

DATA LINEAGE SUMMARY:
Primary Data Collection - GPS
In late May 2004, the Center for Urban and Environmental 
Solutions deployed a field team to ground-truth the original 
30 noise abatement walls in the June 2000 Report.  Utilizing 
a Trimble GeoXT with GPS correct for real-time post-processing, 
the field team collected GPS information to verify the location 
of these barriers.
During the GPS field work, three (3) new walls were identified 
in District 1 along the I-4 Corridor, the GPS information was 
collected for these walls as well. Once research staff confirmed 
these were owned by FDOT, they were included into the 
Statewide Noise Abatement Geodatabase. GPS coordinates 
were collected by the research field team for 33 noise 
abatement walls.  District 4 and District 6 indicated that they 
would be initiating their own GPS collection during the 
summer and fall of 2004. Rather then replicate this effort, 
CUES coordinated with these two districts to obtain the 
completed GPS information and import it into the Statewide 
Geodatabase. However, approximately seven walls were 
not included in these two Districts inventories. Therefore, 
CUES field team used GPS to collect wall information 
mainly for the Sawgrass Expressway and the Florida Turnpike. 
Overall GPS coordinates were collected for 40 walls by CUES.

The internal setting of the GeoXT's GPS were set to 
ensure the highest possible accuracy. The settings utilized 
are as follows:
	PDOP: (Position Dilution of Precision) : 6 or less
	SNR (Signal To Noise Ratio): 4
	Elevation Mask: 15%
	Number of Satellites: 4 or Higher  
	Differential Correction: WAAS

Each noise barrier wall in the region was surveyed to 
obtain both spatial, attribute and photographic information 
necessary for the project. Upon arrival to the particular 
barrier wall, the team would investigate the following 
conditions before undertaking the survey:
	Traffic volume & Safety conditions
	Survey Obstacles
	GPS Satellite Visibility 
	GPS Availability
Upon arrival to the location, traffic volume was determined 
by the amount of traffic traveling adjacent to the wall of 
interest. The estimated volume determined whether it was 
judged safe for a foot survey or required use of a vehicle. 
Hard hats and florescent safety vests were worn at all 
times while conducting the surveys. 

Numerous barrier walls surveyed had large swaths of 
vegetation planted next to them. Major types of vegetation 
included: Sable Palm trees, Sea Grape and various other 
bushes.  These vegetation lines often followed the length 
of the given wall an ranged on an average from 10-75 
feet. Since many of the walls had some type of vegetation, 
an offset was incorporated into the survey. Generally all 
surveys were done on an average of 20 feet in front of 
the wall. Many of the walls not only had a vegetation line 
in front but also a layer of standing water. This situation 
occurred in areas where the walls possessed a gully or 
depression directly in front of the vegetation line. In many 
situations, the accumulated water actually formed a small 
linear wetland including typical wetland flora and fauna 
which included unfortunately high concentrations of biting 
insects. If these water bodies existed, the offset was increased 
to account for the additional obstacle so that the survey 
could continue. Other barriers to the survey included manmade 
structures such as tollbooths, embankments, bridges and 
narrow walks. If such obstacles were encountered, the 
situation was noted in the attribute table and the offset 
increased as needed.

GPS is a line of sight technology which relies on the 
ground based receiver the ability to have a clear and 
unobstructed line of sight to the GPS satellites. noise 
barrier walls provide a unique problem in that they can 
obstruct half of the sky depending on how close the 
survey is conducted to them. Due to this fact, an offset 
was also needed to obtain the best possible satellite 
lock. GPS uses a measurement called PDOP (Position 
Dilution of Precision) to indicate accuracy. To ensure 
high accuracy GPS positioning, it is recommended that 
the PDOP value be less than 6. During all wall surveys, 
PDOP was monitored very closely and any measurement 
greater than 6 was resurveyed. 

Once the Noise Barrier Wall was cleared to survey, 
the walking team member would activate the Mobile 
GIS/GPS unit and begin logging the poly-line feature. 
At the beginning of the logging, an initial starting coordinate 
would be relayed to the vehicle team member for input 
into handwriting log. If a walking Survey was done, the 
survey team member would walk the length of the wall 
with the vehicle team member following along to provide 
a look out for traffic. At the halfway point of the survey, 
the walking team member would again call out the coordinate 
of the middle of the wall to the vehicle team member. 
Once the entire length of the wall had been traversed, 
the walking team member would stop the logging and fill 
in the custom input form in the ArcPad software. Digital 
photos were also taken at each survey location. 

After each wall was surveyed, the team would back up 
the data on the GeoXT mobile device and then download 
the data onto a laptop computer. This procedure was 
completed at the location incase data was lost and the 
survey would have to be redone. Once back at the office, 
all data for that day was downloaded onto the project 
server to be used by the GIS section. 

Acquisition from Individual Districts of Walls in GIS format  
According to interviews conducted during this project among 
FDOT personnel, at the time of interviews, District offices 
were not maintaining an inventory of their noise barriers in 
GIS. However, in the summer and fall of 2004, two District 
offices used GPS technology to store their noise abatement 
walls in GIS.

District Four utilized GPS to store both the point (begin/end points) 
and line feature classes representing 95 noise abatement 
walls. District 4 provided the research team with their personal 
geodatabase. Next, the point and line feature classes were 
merged and spatially projected into the Statewide Geodatabase. 
District 4 also created a hyperlink to the photos collected 
during their GPS work.  This hyperlink is included as part of 
the Statewide Geodatabase.

District Six utilized GPS technology to capture the begin 
node and end node for each wall. However, no line feature 
classes were created. Utilizing the GPS begin and end nodes, 
the research team digitized the line feature class representing 
the noise barriers for approximately 84 out of 96 total walls in 
District 6. A Trimble GeoXT was used to collect the points and 
linear features depicting the remaining 12 barriers.
On Screen (Heads-up) Digitizing 

This spatial data collection technique, based on utilizing 
high quality, rectified aerial photos and other georeferenced 
GIS layers, was used to primarily to edit the spatial data collected 
through GPS for relative positional accuracy purposes. The level 
of accuracy of the derived dataset is taken from the initial accuracy 
of the digital image along with georeferenced GIS layers.

One of the challenges was to utilize aerial photos in GIS at 
an acceptable resolution needed to create and edit spatial 
features for all District offices that have noise abatement 
walls. The central problem is that most ortho photos in GIS 
are collected by county governments who collected this 
raster information at varying scales, different data formats 
(e.g. MrSID, TIF, JPEG, SDE) and/or captured at different 
time frames. Based upon these challenges as well as the 
degree of acquiring these raster features, it was decided to 
utilize ESRI's ArcWeb Services.

One of ArcWeb Services offered is access to GlobeXplorer's 
'Citipix/Digital Ortho'  which was used to perform the spatial 
edits required to verify and/or 're-align' the GPS collected 
data relative to scale of FDOT's GIS base map layers. Citipix 
is the largest high-resolution aerial imagery dataset available 
online through ArcWeb Services.  Captured at six-inch 
resolution and in 24-bit color, Citipix is precision geo-referenced 
and ortho-rectified.   It covers over 7,000 cities and towns 
in over 73 metropolitan areas in the United States, with a 
total area of over 90,000 square miles. 

Because of Citipix high resolution, it provided the optimal 
back ground layer to digitize, edit, and verify the linear 
features representing the walls. Using GPS points collected 
by District 6 which represent the begin and end nodes for 
each wall along with GlobeXplorer's digital orthophotography, 
the line feature classes for these walls were digitized.  96 out 
of the 217 walls within the Statewide Geodatabase were 
digitized. District 6 accounts for approximately 44% of all noise 
barriers in the Statewide Geodatabase.
Process Date: 20040101

GeoPlan took the data from the Statewide Noise Barrier GeoDatabase two disk set in May 2005. The layer was called NBGD_ALL and located in the Feature Dataset NBGD of the FDOT_NAB_GDB.mdb (on disk 1). This feature class was in Albers HPGN. A DESCRIPT field was added and based on the field ROAD_DESCR. Process Date: 20050501
Noise barrier locations were received from the Florida Department of Transportation via email as a spreadsheet in excel format in November of 2009. These noise barriers have been built since the initial CUES data was created or are planned to be built in the future. Noise barrier records containing TO and FROM, Latitude and Longitude information were formatted to Decimal Degrees. Once in Decimal Degrees the records were brought into ArcMap. Using the XY Tool in ArcMap the records were then converted to point features. These point features were then used as a guide along with Google Maps Street View to properly locate these noise barrier line features. Noise barriers without to and from latitude and longitude information were created using the RCI road id associated with the barrier and the beginning and ending mile post. Line route events were created using the basemap.route.road RCI basemap coverage and a table provided by FDOT that contained noise barrier locations. The route events were created in ArcMap 9.3.1 using the Add Route Events tool. Barriers that have already been constructed were verified when possible using Google maps street view or aerial imagery. Planned barriers rely on the accuracy of the RCI Road ID, Beginning Mile Post, and End Mile Post data provided by FDOT. Noise barrier records with no TO and FROM latitude and longitude or RCI Road ID and Beginning and Ending Mile Post information have been placed when possible based on the approximate location, group, and Highway / Route Number fields. In some instances not enough information is available to confidently locate these barriers. At this time these records have been omitted until further information on their location can be obtained. There are currently 45 noise barrier locations that have been omitted. Process Date: 20100410
GeoPlan reviewed the original table of unlocated constructed sound barriers. During this process 5 of the 8 existing missing sound barriers were located. There are currently 40 noise barrier locations that have been omitted. It was noted that a few roadways maybe creating new sound barriers in the future. US 27 from Ritchie Road to south of Barry Road ftp://ftp.dot.state.fl.us/LTS/d1/profserv/12155/AECOM%20Presentation.pdf I-75 and Palmetto,Express Lanes workshop 16 locations for new or replacement sound barriers, pg 28 http://75-express.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/FINAL-I-75-ELs-Industry-Workshop.pdf It was also noted that a large number of the proposed sound barriers in the original table are for FDOT District 7, using aerial photography and street view to located these missing features was not possible at this time. Process Date: 20130904
Per a request by FDOT District 4, four features were removed by the GeoPlan Center on December 9th, 2013. These four features can be identified in noise_barriers_sep13.shp by the following FPN_NO number 249035-1 These features were removed because no sound barriers currently exist at this location and at this time none are planned for future construction at this location. Process Date: 20131209
MAP PROJECTION PARAMETERS:

Projection                          ALBERS
Datum                               HPGN
Units                               METERS
Spheroid                            GRS1980
1st Standard Parallel               24  0  0.000
2nd Standard Parallel               31 30  0.000
Central Meridian                   -84 00  0.000
Latitude of Projection's Origin     24  0  0.000
False Easting (meters)              400000.00000
False Northing (meters)             0.00000

DATA SOURCE CONTACT (S):

Name:
Abbr. Name:
Address:


Phone:

Web site:
E-mail:
Contact Person:
         Phone:
        E-mail:
Florida Department of Transportation, Environmental Management Office
FDOT
605 Suwannee Street
Tallahassee, FL
32399
1-866-374-3368 ext. 4447

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/emo/ peter.mcgilvray@dot.state.fl.us Mariano Berrios

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Abbr. Name:             FGDL
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                        PO Box 115706
                        Gainesville, FL  32611-5706
Web site:               http://www.fgdl.org

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