FirstLook Services, a company that performs 3D drone mapping and laser scanning for construction sites, was founded by three childhood friends who went through NJIT together and is now helping to build the new Oak Hall.
The maps and scans, known as orthomosaic imaging and point clouds, are assembled from stationary and drone-mounted cameras to help solve technical problems during and after construction. By documenting every stage in visible detail, architects, contractors and ultimately a building’s maintenance staff can look through the layers to see what actually exists compared to the plans, without having to take things apart.
The company didn’t form overnight. Michael Elia, Frank Filato and John Anthony Pizzi grew up together and were all advised to attend NJIT by their technology education teacher at Wayne Valley High School. Elia and Pizzi studied engineering and were Albert Dorman Honors College members, while Filato studied architecture.
After working at various jobs, they wound up reconnecting and sticking with the idea for FirstLook that they had as undergraduates. The inspiration came to them after Filato learned about Matterport scanners in one of his courses. Matterport is a brand name, but it’s become a generic term meaning a scanning camera used to develop walk-through maps made of digital images, essentially an indoor version of Google Maps Street View.
The trio pooled their money, about $5,000, and bought a camera. FirstLook initially served the needs of real estate agents. The field had low profit margins and wasn’t satisfying — they wanted a more direct way to apply their educational backgrounds — and they finally figured it out when a local general contractor hired them to document construction of a strip mall anchored by a Trader Joe’s.
“This was right up our alley. I've worked in engineering. Mike had a job in engineering and contracting. Frank was an architect. It made perfect sense,” Pizzi said. “It was month-to-month. You could see the steel going up. You could see the cut fill, the grading. You could see problems being solved … We’re all still working full-time at this point. This is just after work and Saturdays.”
“We get a couple of new clients, and we start to realize that there is other technology out there for more of what we wanted to do,” such as drone imaging that enabled contractors to calculate stockpiles of materials, and even LIDAR scanning for precise measurements. They’ve applied the technology retroactively to old buildings, not just to new ones like Oak Hall.
3D drone map of Oak Hall
By providing indoor video documentation, which FirstLook calls reality capture, and the outdoor drone observation, the process results in digital twins that can be integrated with a facilities building management software. The company is also working toward campus wayfinding tools that would provide useful information for students and visitors.
Of 11 employees at FirstLook, seven came from NJIT, along with two current students — Finley McAndrew, studying financial technology, and Erion Zaku, studying surveying and civil engineering. They’re helping the alumni behind FirstLook to understand modern information about NJIT and to help build artificial intelligence applications. It all stems from their cumulative NJIT educations — because without that, Pizzi said, FirstLook would simply be a data capture company. “Nerds run the world. NJIT is the one place where it's not an insult,” he joked.
“It's going to benefit our facilities department and then also our telecom department in terms of how the infrastructure for the project is being laid out, and meaning that how the conduits are being laid out, how the mechanical system is being laid out. Our guys will be able to go back and review these documents, and they'll be able to say, ‘Oh, that was installed. Oh no, something doesn't look correct to us’,” explained NJIT’s Denise Davis, project manager, campus planning and design.
“At that point, it might be too late because all the walls will be closed then. But at least we could have some form of documentation for the future if somebody wants to go back and see how things were laid out. We would have it right, and then you know you have the pretty picture as well too. But you have the progression of the project being captured through the software that FirstLook has provided for us.”
