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Google's new AR tool allows you to create tunnels directly to the other side of the Earth

Sushmit Mukherji

Apr 22,2024
2 min read
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As a child, have you ever wanted to dig a tunnel so deep that you end up on the other side of the Earth? Well, now you can. Google now has a browser-based AR tool that allows you to create AR tunnels directly to the other side of the Earth. An initiative of Experiments with Google, Floom is a fun toy to play with.

Explore the world with Floom, a new experiment that lets you create AR tunnels to get to the other side of the planet ➝ https://t.co/QDn3ktteJF ???????? #WebXR pic.twitter.com/HDCmdy31Sx
— Google (@Google) April 7, 2021

You can launch Floom on a supported Android device with the latest version of Chrome. To experience the tool, you have to point your phone’s camera at the ground, tap the little tornado object, and it will show you a hole to the other side of the Earth. You can also change the angle of your device, to control how your tunnel intersects the Earth and even open the location in Google Earth to get a better look around.

Floom is a part of three new experiments that Google announced yesterday in an official blog post. The other two experiments include Sodar, a tool that helps you visualize social distancing by activating a personal augmented reality radar from your browser, and the other is Measure Up, a virtual measuring tool. These experiments depend on WebXR, which produces AR or VR experiences on web pages.

Google also has an upcoming app named Picturescape that will let you turn your Google photos library into an immersive AR gallery.