The Hayden Bay Underwater Gardens is a proposed combination of Silverton’s Oregon Gardens and the Undersea Gardens in Newport. It focuses on the Columbia River fresh water ecosystem. There is no brick and mortar facility. It only exists on the web. Virtual.



It’s like a virtual walking tour of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Except you can step INSIDE the tank. Look around in 360 degrees. Swim with the fishes.



Pixvana’s SPIN Studio platform makes it easy to manage and distribute content to multiple VR headsets at once. The Grand Coulee Dam VR tour uses it at their visitor’s center.



The purpose of the Hayden Bay Underwater Gardens is to raise awareness of fresh water issues and our water environment.



Around 71 percent of the planet is covered by water, but more than 96 percent of that is made up of salt water in the form of oceans. That leaves just 3 percent of the world’s water supply in the form of fresh water, consisting of rivers, streams, lakes and glaciers.



The EPA must protect fish from warming waters in Oregon and Washington. Many river basins are impacted by the rules.



Northwest Environmental Advocates have used The Clean Water Act to provide force better protection from many forms of pollutants—from toxics to temperature—for Oregon’s streams and rivers.



Take a fast trip up or down the Willamette in a Hyperlapse Water Taxi.











The Portland Harbor Superfund Site is a 10-mile stretch of the Willamette River that is highly contaminated with dozens of pollutants left behind by more than a century of industry in the Portland area. The EPA spent 16 years developing a $1 billion cleanup plan for the site. The Lower Willamette Group has agreed to help with the cleanup process.





It does not push a political agenda, but celebrates the diversity and the fragility of our environment. Edutainment and wonder is the focus.





Drinking water, transportation, recreation, dams, fish habitat, industrial use, waste treatment and government oversight are illustrated with immersive dioramas, but visitors can make their own judgments.



A landmark agreement supported by states, tribes and federal agencies is expected to change how water is spilled at Columbia and Lower Snake River dams to boost the survival of young salmon while limiting the financial hit to hydropower.





Fresh water lakes with stories to tell include Blue Lake, Bull Run, Crater Lake, Hagg Lake, Hells Canyon Reservoir among others.



The free WiFi link appears on phones near the Vancouver Waterfront development. Click to enter.



A VR tour could incorporate a small map for navigation and an option for viewing on an immersive VR headset. Like being there.



Google’s Tour Creator lets anyone create and publish virtual reality tours. Here are some templates.



Go inside the tank or go live in the real world.



Lots of 360 degree panoramas and videos pull you in. Take the 360 degree tour, narrated by tour guides, or explore on your own.

It’s free. Funded by grants, sustained by advertising. Based on science.



Google has spent years developing Street View Backpacks. A Google tour of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, using a boat-mounted 360 degree camera, allows for real-time video, hyperlapsed sped-up travel, or Streetview maps of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers.



The Insta360 One X camera ($400) features 6 axis stabilization, important for hyperlapse and integration into Streetview’s Riverview. You can shoot the shoreline of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers and upload it to Streetview from your phone. The One X mobile app automatically converts video files into a series of evenly spaced 360 photo spheres for viewing on Google Maps.





Incorporation of Riverviews into Google Streetview lets everyone have access to the river and explore underwater features such as Celilo Falls.



Creating a 360 Tour is easier with one-piece 360 cameras. Then upload your 360 stills and video to Google Tour Creator, Google Street View, Google Poly, YouTube 360, Vimeo, Facebook, Kuula, RoundMe, Ricoh Tours, Theasys, VeeR or others at little or no cost.





For social media promotion, The Oregon Coast Aquarium uses Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.



Subject matter experts can video conference on a variety of topics using Skype, YouTube Live or Facebook Live. Free Coast Guard classes, marine biology courses could be tied to local curriculum.





The Wetlab features an actual marine biology laboratory at AbSci.



Crispr your own Water Bear.



It doesn’t have to be virtual. It could be real. An actual facility could house a live control point to the Ocean Observatory off the coast of Oregon.



Today you can view the Axial Seamount, a live underwater volcano, 200 miles off the coast of Oregon. The design and construction of the $250 million Ocean Observatory was led by University of Washington and Oregon State, but it’s an international effort.



Oregon State operates the Endurance Array off the coast, while Rutgers operates the cyberinfrastructure. The Ocean Observatory coalition is led by Woods Hole with direction from the NSF.





Sport fishing experts, marine biologists, native Americans, cooks, industry, and others explain their roles. Can you Identify These Freshwater Fish from an Image? Bren Smith’s Open-Sourced 3D Ocean Farm Model can feed a hungry planet.



Geeky nerds may want to try the free VR courses and game development tutorials, while a package of essential NW experiences utilizes gamification in immersive 3D environments.



Beneath Hayden Bay you can explore a sunken Liberty Ship, plutonium leaks and extremophiles among the native sword grass and Sturgeon.





And there’s games for the kids:





1. Subduction Zone Terror

2. Windsurfing Tsuanmi

3. Forest Fire Zip Line

4. White water rafting

5. Extremophile Zoo

6. Columbian Mammoth v. Kennewick Man

7. Broughton Flume

8. Hydroplane Racing

9. Ski Mt St Helens

10. Dam Break!





Hold onto your butts! Here’s the Kraken Unleashed VR roller coaster.



Is this a good idea? Not yet. It needs to be truly compelling, innovative and useful with a sound business plan.

