I’ve been searching for a new apartment for a couple of months. After a bad experience living next to heavy public transport noise, I learned the hard way how much constant noise can affect daily life and sleep.
I know that in tight housing markets you often can’t be picky, but for cases where you do have more than one option, or want to avoid repeating a past mistake, having this information upfront can help.
I ended up using multiple public maps to check noise levels for each address, so I built a small Chrome extension (Firefox and Opera pending approval) that shows this data directly on the ImmoScout expose page.
It uses high-precision noise data from the Berlin Environmental Atlas and shows expected road traffic and rail noise for the exact location.
You can install it here, and I’d love feedback on what else would be useful to add:
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/immonoise-noise-pollution/onhealgohmkcmddlemannchlgnihhgnh
This is a great idea mate. I’ve been clocking 80-90db from our window due to reflections from the cement and because we are close to a common emergency route in Neukölln. It drastically reduces our peace, can’t keep windows open for long periods of time, it wakes us up constantly and the sirens are infuriating when I’m trying to work. It feels like the vehicles are inside our apartment.
It absolutely is disruptive to peace and if this chrome extension can do anything, it can help you reduce your rent. Nice job mate!
I feel you, and that range of dB... that's not healthy at all :/ If you're looking to move, I hope this helps spot quieter places/areas.
I think people would envy you for this luxury problem.
But tell me: how do you deduct the level of noise outside?
Those levels come from official data, this is the source (also linked in the extension) https://www.berlin.de/umweltatlas/en/traffic-noise/noise-pollution/2022/maps/
Noise actively harms health, this is not a luxury problem.
Ppl can't even find an apartment. Who tf has the chance to choose the apartment?
Some people do, or you think people also apply to apartments in any neighbours? People do choose. If this is not useful for you, then you just don't use it.
The people in most German subs are miserable. Ignore them. This is cool
especially this one i swear. according to this sub no one has found an apartment in Berlin in the last 25 years
Russian programmers already did this but on separate map, see habr com articles 764984
Nice! I just found Igor's post, this is very useful. Thanks!
I see some of the data isn't right, but I like the approach
"Let them eat cake" Type of problem
I understand the sentiment, but noise exposure isn’t a “nice to have” issue, it has real impacts on sleep and health. In the same way, most people wouldn’t move to a place that feels unsafe if they have an alternative. That isn’t being picky... it’s about avoiding preventable problems when comparing similar options or learning from past experience, like I did! There is no way I would move back next to a tram line, and above a u-bahn, and have the same bad experience as I had in the past.