WORKSHOP 3D is excited to be working with the Grant County PUD and Chelan County Power to produce a new Augmented Reality app that will enhance their existing outreach programs with educational and entertaining simulations related to hydroelectric power on the Columbia river.

The new app will include a simulation of salmon spawning swimming all around you as your environment fills up with water. You will be able to see them coming up the river at you, then turn around and see them swimming beside you and away upstream.

From this simulation, you will be able to access additional information about the salmon spawning process, and how the dams accommodate this biological imperative.

In another simulation, you will take on the role of a water molecule, making your way through the dam’s might turbines, following a typical molecule’s actual path, or free-swimming around to get a better view. As with the salmon simulation, from here you can access additional information about the turbines.

Finally, you will fly a drone up close to the spillways of Rocky Reach Dam in Chelan County and Wanapum Dam in Grant County and pan around while the various parts of the dam are pointed out, and from which you can access additional information about hydroelectric power plants and their operations, as shown in the image at the top of this page.

The app is being designed to support drone’s-eye views and panoramas of additional dams from Chelan, Grant, and other counties. Additional features will include information about each of the utilities, and a news feature where users can access the latest information, including following the progress of the renovation of the Rocky Reach Discovery Center.