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Toronto 'Countdown Clock' ticking down to 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games

Digital signage clock and kiosk count down the days, but also allow visitors to interact with others via social media.

July 23, 2014 by Christopher Hall — w, t

The 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games are coming to Toronto, and the social media-connected digital signage Toronto 2015 Countdown Clock in the heart of the city is counting down the days and minutes to the start of the Games.

But counting down is just the start of what the Countdown Clock is bringing to Nathan Phillips Square in downtown Toronto.

Right next to the clock is an interactive touchscreen kiosk that provides visitors with games information and also allows them to take a photo of themselves in the square, download it to their smartphone to email or share it via social media from the clock's photo page.

The Countdown Clock is a made-in-Canada technology showcase from Cisco Canada, decorated in colorful pictograms of the sports in the Toronto 2015 Games, that counts down to the start of the Pan Am Games on July 10, 2015, as well as the Parapan Am Games on August 7, 2015. (The Pan American Games and ParaPan American Games are Olympics- and Paralympics-style athletic competitions between representative athletes from the nations of the Americas, held every four years in the year before the Summer Olympic Games.)

"As we come together to celebrate our one-year countdown, it's wonderful that our partner Cisco is giving Toronto this incredible new landmark so that everyone who visits Nathan Phillips Square can share in the excitement and feel connected to the Toronto 2015 Games," said Saaed Rafi, CEO of the Toronto Games Organizing Committee, at the Clock's unveiling on July 11, according to an announcement from Cisco Canada.

At its unveiling, the 5.5-meter-tall (roughly 18 feet), two-part structure was "woken" from its slumber by a team of Cirque du Soleil stilt acrobats, Brazilian drummers and break dancers performing as two BMX cyclists did tricks around the structure, according to the announcement.

The special performance was the official kickoff to two days of sport and music festivities celebrating the one-year countdown to the Toronto 2015 Games. The Countdown Clock will be located at Nathan Phillips Square through to the end of the Parapan Am Games on August 15, 2015. Cisco is a Premier Partner of the Games and its official information and communications technology provider.

The opening day festivities drew hundreds of people, including groups of children who played field hockey and other sports on a stretch of Astroturf in the middle of the square, according to CTV News.

Also on hand for the festivities was the "Clock Master," Cisco’s sponsorship manager for the 2015 Games, Andrew Barrett. According to the Toronto Star, Barrett said that, with rapid pace of smartphone development and capabilities, Cisco worked to "future-proof" the Countdown Clock — constructing it so that new technological capabilities can be added as needed as the Games approach.

According to Barrett, that could include capabilities such as live videoconferencing with people from some of the 41 countries that will be represented at the Games. Cisco also has designed special kiosks that could be installed at any of the sports venues across southern Ontario, he said.

Watch a video about the Countdown Clock's construction and installation below:

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