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ThinkRevolutionist: The Hydrous

Two Events. Countless Impacts on Climate Change.
July 15, 2016

In April, the team at The Hydrous took off for England and Singapore to spread awareness about coral conservation and their 3D mapping capabilities.

Sly Lee, The Hydrous’ Founder and President, made his way to Oxford, England to attend the Skoll World Forum. During his time at the event Sly took part in a panel entitled, “Leapfrogging Development: How New Technologies Will Accelerate Change” where he discussed how and why our oceans are in jeopardy, sharing that of the reefs alive today, 75% are at risk.

Just as Sly made his way back from Oxford, Yasmeen Smalley-Norman, Vice President at The Hydrous, was headed to Singapore for ADEX 2016. At ADEX, Yasmeen had the opportunity to speak with talented scuba divers, nonprofits and conservationists at The Hydrous booth on the exhibit floor. She also spoke with several press outlets about their goal for the expo: to spread awareness of coral conservation and their 3D mapping work.

Sly and Yasmeen both shared the origins of The Hydrous and their passion for using technology to better understand the ocean’s coral reefs through 3D mapping. Easy to teach and easy to learn, 3D mapping allows non-engineers the ability to capture the current state of the reefs in the Maldives and around the world. Utilizing Autodesk® ReMake (previously Memento) to map the reefs allows The Hydrous the ability to compare reef health year over year, showing the degradation of these precious environments and raising awareness for both natural and man-made effects on the coral.

In addition to being able share the health of the reefs with scientists and engineers around the world, the coral models can be put into VR applications and shared for educational purposes. This gives The Hydrous the capability to bring the oceans to students, environmentalist, and everyday people who don’t have the opportunity to see these reefs in person.

In the spirit of sharing the oceans with the world, The Hydrous is working on a community where anyone, from anywhere, can learn how to map the reefs, upload the information they have captured and analyze it. All of this data will help provide bigger insights into the health of the oceans.

Open access to the ocean isn’t far from The Hydrous’ reach; soon we will all be able to see the ocean, without stepping foot in the water.

 

“The goal of what we are doing is not replacing the actual experience of being in the water or on a coral reef, but providing a small insight into these valuable resources.” – Sly Lee, Founder and President, The Hydrous