Google’s latest AR experiment lets you see through to the other side of the world
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Ever wondered which part of the Earth is directly on the other side from you? Well, thanks to a new AR experience from Google, you can find out in seconds using your Android smartphone.
Head on over to Floom using the Chrome browser on your Android smartphone, and point the camera at the ground. Place your Floom tunnel, and tap it to open a virtual hole to the other side of the planet. Changing the angle your device is held at will create different tunnels, so you can almost see any point in the world.
The aiming will give you hints as to if your tunnel will hit water or land, and there’s literally no limit to how many places you can visit.
Floom is built on WebXR, the browser standard that shows off just how far Augmented Reality can be pushed without expensive hardware like HoloLens. It then links up with Google Maps data, to show off wherever your camera is pointed at. Neat.
Oh, while you’ve got your smartphone out and ready, check out Measure Up, another WebXR tool that can help you calculate the length, area, and volume of things around you, even if those things aren’t easy shapes to measure. It’s pretty cool seeing what AR can do, when it’s not being used to add camera filters and stickers to the world.
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