Context: Noise in the work environment, in all types of productive activities, represents a hazard and has not really been valued in its real dimension. Little has been seen that stakeholders have determined the urgency of managing noise control programs. Therefore, losses resulting from medical treatment and absenteeism, represented in health care and social services, result in hidden work-related costs that directly affect the gross domestic product in any country.

Method: This article compiles different case studies from around the world. The studies were divided for review into general studies on the effects of workforce noise and then particularized according to the effects of industrial noise on workers’ health. At a control level, the assessment and measurement of noise is defined through the use of tools such as noise maps and their respective derivations, in addition to spatial databases.

Results: According to the collection of information and its analysis, we observe that in the medium term, the economies will be diminished in an important percentage due to the consequences generated by the exposure to noise. Specific information can be found in the development of the article.

Conclusions: The data provided by the case studies point to the need for Colombia, a country that is no stranger to this phenomenon, and which additionally has the great disadvantage of not having significant studies in the field of noise analysis, should strengthen studies based on spatial data as a mechanism for measurement and control.

Financing: Fundación universitaria Los Libertadores.

One of the core problems in soil erosion research is the estimation of soil erosion. It is a feasible method and technical approach to estimate soil erosion in Loess Plateau region by using USLE model, GIS and RS technology and using DEM data, meteorological data and land-use type data. With the support of GIS and RS technology, the USLE factors and soil erosion in Loess Plateau region were estimated, and the soil erosion intensity was classified according to the Chinese soil erosion intensity classification standard. The results can provide reference for the development of soil erosion control measures in the Loess Plateau.

Through the combination of the geographic information systems (GIS) and the integrated information model, the stability of regional bank slope was comprehensively evaluated. First, a regional bank slope stability evaluation index system was established through studying seven selected factors (slope grade, slope direction, mountain shadow, elevation, stratigraphic lithology, geological structure and river action) that have an impact on the stability of the slope. Then, each factor was rasterized by GIS. According to the integrated information model, the evaluation index distribution map based on rasterized factors was obtained to evaluate the stability of the regional bank slope. Through the analysis of an actual project, it was concluded that the geological structure and stratigraphic lithology have a significant impact on the evaluation results. Most of the research areas were in the relatively low stable areas. The low and the relatively low stable areas accounted for 15.2% and 51.5% of the total study area respectively. The accuracy of slope evaluation results in the study area reached 95.41%.

To deal with problems of traditional geographic information collection, such as low real-time, poor authenticity of the data, and unclear description of detailed areas, a design scheme of remote sensing-based geographic information system is proposed. The system mainly consists of information collection, imaging processing, data storage management, scene control and data transmission module. By use of remote sensing technology, the reflected and radiated electromagnetic waves of the target area are collected from a long distance to form an image, and the hue–intensity–saturation (HIS) transformation method is used to enhance the image definition. Weighted fusion algorithm is adopted to process the details of the image. The spatial database stores and manages the text and image data respectively, and establishes the attribute self-correlation mechanism to render the ground objects in the picture with SketchUp software. Finally, using RS422 protocol to transmit information can achieve the effect of multi-purpose, and enhance the anti-interference of the system. The experimental results show that the practical experience of the proposed system is excellent, the geographic information image presented is clear, and the edge details are clearly visible, which can provide users with effective geographic information data.

This article presents a bibliographic review on the evolution of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and their integration in the social sciences, which is important because the interrelation of these areas contributes to the knowledge of the people. In this sense, the objective was to contribute to the university academic knowledge, through the compilation, classification, analysis and synthesis of scientific works according to the subject treated. For this purpose, the historical, synthetic, dialectical, and analytical methods were used, with a descriptive and documentary type of research, obtaining as a result that the GIS are very useful in different fields of social sciences, ranging from archeology to sociology, including specific topics such as economics and criminology.