The sound map is where you can browse, search for, listen to download and upload the sounds that define America.

We’ve designed the application to be as intuitive as possible, so with a little bit of play you should be able to figure it out pretty quickly.

However we all need a bit of help from time to time, so here’s a step-by-step guide.

Go to the Sound map

Your first view should provide you with a map of the US segregated into States.

You’ll notice little yellow dots spread around. These are the Sound Markers that represent each sound in a state.

Rolling over a state highlights it.

Give a state a click and you’ll enter “State View”.

Here the Sound Markers become interactive.

Rolling over a Sound Marker in “State View” causes an info box to pop-up (more on those later).

To get a close look at State View, hold down shift and the map will zoom in wherever your mouse is. Release shift to return to the regular State View.

Clicking a Sound Marker will open “Street View”.

Street View is useful for when you want to get a more precise look at the location of a sound. It’s also great for when a bunch of sounds have been uploaded in the same location.

At Street View each sound is represented by a 3d Speaker icon.

Clicking on a Speaker Icon brings up its info box.

To browse around at Street View simply click and drag the map around, or double click to zoom in.

If you get a bit lost in Street View, click the “Reset” button at the bottom of the map and that will return you to your entry point.

Going deeper into the levels of the Sound Map is fun, but what happens if you want to take a step or 2 backwards?

At the top of the Sound Map window you will see some text that gives you details on your current location.

For example, if you’re checking out some sounds at Street Level in Des Moins, Iowa, the text will read, “Des Moins IA USA”

You’ll notice that IA & USA are underlined.

Clicking on IA takes you back to the State View of Iowa.

Clicking on USA takes you back to the US Map.

Rolling over a Sound Marker at State or Street View activates the pop-up info boxes. Here you can listen to sounds, and if you’re a Smalls member, download them too.

Clicking on “more” in an info box will give you expanded information which can include details of the uploader, a brief description of the sound, an accompanying thumbnail image and more.

Click the speaker icon to close the info box.

In the top right corner of the Sound Map window you’ll see the Search Box. Here you can search sounds under pretty much any criteria.

Enter a keyword, a location (from Cities to streets and zip codes) or even the name of an uploader and your search results will be represented on the map itself (you’ll notice that any sound markers that don’t feature the relevant results will disappear). The Sound Map may also suggest locations for sounds and clicking the “list button” will bring up your results as a scrollable list.

Clicking an item in the list will automatically take you to that sound at Street View.

In the top right of the Sound Map you’ll see an Upload button. Clicking that button will open the Upload form where you will be asked to provide certain information, browse your hard-drive to find the sound you want to upload and even attach a thumbnail image relevant to your sound.

We’re only able to accommodate MP3’s at this present time. For information on how to convert other sound formats to MP3 please click here.