Have you ever wondered what’s right beneath your feet, on the other side of the world? When you were a kid, you may even have tried to tunnel there by digging a hole in the garden. Thanks to the wonders of augmented reality, and Google’s experimental Floom web app, now you can!
Launch the App
Floom is an augmented reality app that runs in the Chrome browser.
Rather than downloading an app from the Play Store, all you need to do is open Chrome on your Android phone and enter the following URL: floom.withgoogle.com.
If your device is compatible—and most modern Android phones should be—you’ll be presented with the Floom title screen. Press Let’s go and then Explore! to launch the web app. If asked for permission for Chrome to access your phone’s camera, select Allow.
Start Tunneling
So that it can locate the ground, the Floom app will ask you to point your phone’s camera at the floor and move it around.
Do so, and after a few seconds you should see a black spiral marker appear. If you point the phone camera straight down, then tap the marker, you’ll see a photo and details of what’s located exactly on the other side of the world.
Alternatively, you can tilt your phone to see what’s on the other side of the globe from that angle. To give you an idea of what’s there beforehand, the text at the top of the screen tells you whether it’s land or water.
Once you’ve revealed a location, you can tap it to view it in more detail in the Google Earth app—if you don't already have it installed, you’ll be taken to it in the Play Store to install it.
How to Use Google’s Floom App
You can now use the Floom web app to reveal what’s on the other side of the globe—whether it be right beneath your feet or at another angle. Floom is one of Google’s experimental apps using WebXR, which brings together AR and VR on the web to make them more convenient and widely accessible.