Development of an UIS for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area Built upon the 2015 Pan Am Games Science Project Legacy

The 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games in Toronto (TO15) were a high-attendance sport event that offered an opportunity to develop new seamless city-scale services. A large science project starting years ahead of the Games was involving multiple ECCC’s sectors and local organizations and universities. There were initial specific operational requirements to fulfill, but multiple avenues for developing more advanced urban-scale services were explored through multiple research and development activities. Science innovations were mostly directed toward an observational network, high-resolution weather and air-quality modeling, and how to make advantage of these informations to users. A follow-up synergy has allowed to continue to progress toward a more holistic vision for urban services, which has turned into faster operational transfers. Greenhouse Gas emission studies for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) were an important additional sector necessary to fulfill the needs to better quantify city sources and respond to the Paris agreement, and facilitated by the existing testbed.