Lowe?s is providing a new way for consumers to model what they want their homes to look like with Lowe?s products without even going to the store thanks to a new augmented reality program.

Lowe?s Vision, as the feature is called, is a mobile application that uses Google?s augmented reality platform, Tango, to let users model different products in their homes through their phones. The move is an attempt to streamline the decision process, which can be quite long for large home purchases such as couches.

For consumers who are making home purchases ? items such as couches, cabinets and beds ? the items they buy require a good deal of thought put into them before they are purchased. These sorts of products cost a lot, take up a lot of space, and will last for a long time.

Lowe?s is attempting to streamline the process that conusmers go through of modeling different pieces and imagining what they would look like in different parts of their home through the use of Lowe?s Vision.

Lowe?s Vision uses augmented reality to map out a consumer?s room, allowing them digitally place a piece in their home in real-time and see what it looks like where it would actually be.

Lowe?s Vision makes use of Google?s Tango platform, a piece of software that lets a mobile device digitally map out the dimensions of a room for accurate placement of 3D objects into the space. For Lowe?s customers, this means couches and beds can be placed and manipulated within the room for an accurate assessment of what the piece will actually look like once purchased.

The new app has four main features that set it apart from other retail apps: Power Measure, 3D Designer, Save, Snap & Share and Shopping Lists.

Power Measure lets users quickly and intuitively map out the measurements of their home to make purchases easier so consumer swill always know whether something will fit or not.

3D Designer is the method by which consumers will virtually place items around their home. Those items can then be manipulated and moved until the desired look is achieved.

Save, Snap & Share lets consumer save the designs once they have been created and share with others if, for example, two customers are collaborating on one room.

Finally, once a look had been achieved, consumers can use the shopping list feature to catalog all of the items in use and save them to be purchased later.

Lowe?s is relying on the power of innovative tech such as the kind provided by Google?s Tango platform to take as much of the traditional retail process as possible and streamline it for the modern mobile consumer.