What does the city sound like? BSC at Sónar’17

14 June 2017

The Scientific Visualization group of Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) presents Sonomap, an immersive multichannel data experience, which lets you fly above Barcelona to see, hear, and feel urban noise and rhythm. Sonomap can be seen at the Sónar+D international conference on creativity and technology.

Sonomap has two stages, a virtual and a real one. Inside the Sonomap virtual space people can fly over the city and explore urban noise and rhythm through a data-centric artistic representation of the city and the sounds that correspond to their location. Meanwhile, in the real stage the audience will have the same sonic experience but will see a more detailed representation of sound data over the whole city.

The data for Sonomap comes from heterogeneous sources like LIDAR measurements, governmental open data for noise levels and traffic, and proprietary physical models to combine and visualize all the data together in the hybrid real/virtual stage.

Sonomap will soon be available over the web using Oculus or cardboard virtual reality glasses. Meanwhile, you can watch a teaser video or learn more at the website of the project.

What is Sónar+D

Sónar+D is the international conference that brings together a combination of activities with a common theme: the relationship between creativity and technology, and the digital transformation of the cultural industries involved.

The celebration takes place in Barcelona in Fira Montjuïc, parallel to Sónar by Day, and brings together experts from around the world (technicians, entrepreneurs, artists, companies and researchers) to present initiatives and tools that will shape future creative experiences in the fields of music, visuals, interactive content and transmedia platforms.

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