Integration Requirements and Recommendations Overview
This page provides information about how to best integrate with RapidSOS. The following information describes specific requirements, recommendations, and best practices that should be reviewed.
Requirements for Integration
FCC Requirements
Note: FCC requirements are specific to products that are offered in the US. For international products, you must meet federal regulations for any country the product is sold in.
- Data is provided to the 9-1-1 entity answering the call only (it is not to be used by integration partners for commercial or other purposes).
- Data needs to be displayed as supplemental data (i.e., in addition to regulated data, not replacing regulated data). RapidSOS data should never replace FCC-regulated data.
RapidSOS Technical Requirements
- Every 9-1-1 entity needs to have unique access credentials to the RapidSOS system. Each agency agrees to the licensing agreement for each integration credential they request. RapidSOS manages this process.
- When connecting to the Emergency Response Data Platform connection, you must use TLS v1.2 or higher.
- Querying every call is Required. Integrations should not parse for wireless, by the carrier, or otherwise exclude calls that are queried.
- Querying automatically is Required. Data should be queried automatically, and not require interaction by the user to invoke the initial query process.
- RapidSOS location data should not update call for service location automatically.
- Show X, Y coordinates in a text format
- Allow for the Telecommunicator to copy the location and additional data that is in a text format to be pasted or entered in their CAD incident, if there is not a mechanism to do so automatically.
- Show location on the map (when a map is included in the solution) using icons that differentiate ALI vs. RapidSOS location
- Show the relationship to the ALI data (e.g., as overlays on the same screen with a line drawn between ALI and RapidSOS location)
- Include the circle of confidence on the map or certainty radius as a text field if preferred.
- Include additional data (not only location), either via an API integration or by integrating RapidSOS Portal.
- If your solution has a mapping component, location must be shown on the map
- Query location and additional data periodically throughout the call (typical interval would be every 5-7 seconds). More sophisticated integrations vary the query interval based on the source of the data and the time since the data has changed. This is important if a caller is moving or additional data becomes available and increases in importance as more data sets are added to the RapidSOS Emergency Response Data Platform.
- Request a new auth token every 15-30 minutes for API requests
RapidSOS Branding
- There are RapidSOS Branding assets that may be used HERE.
- When plotting location, make the icon the RapidSOS logo
- When launching integrated RapidSOS Portal, make the clickable link/button a RapidSOS logo or spell out RapidSOS Portal
- When displaying location or additional data, clearly identify the source as RapidSOS
General Information
- As of 2/20/2020, Credential management is all handled through the administrative module within RapidSOS Portal.
- Integration partners do not have access to the production environment. Integration partners have access to testing/development only on the RapidSOS Sandbox or pre-production environment.
- A mechanism to update the service location programmatically (e.g., push a button) with the RapidSOS data should be provided so end users can make this decision and quickly update the call record if they choose.
Recommendations & Suggestions
The following features and information are not required, however are suggested because they have proven to be helpful for partners. This section has been grouped into multiple parts for enterprise, mid-market, and small business.
- Enterprise
- Reverse-geocode RapidSOS lat/long
- Reverse geocoding is not provided by RapidSOS and would need to be built into an integration separately.
- Show breadcrumb trail when the caller is moving instead of only updating map with most recent location. Ensure time stamp of time location was received is displayed.
- Enable the location to be stored as part of the call/incident record.
- Enable the location to be pushed to third-party applications (e.g., Map, CAD, recording, etc.)
- Show additional data (i.e., from the additional data API or integrated RapidSOS Portal) in a separate tab where it doesn’t distract the user when irrelevant. However, provide some indicator on the main screen that additional data is available. Examples could be when hovered over, or “lighting up” the icon in a different color, or some other appropriate indicator that is informative but not distracting.
- CAD Integration: For optimal user experience, consider providing a method for data such as vehicle license plate to be parsed to fields in CAD that would perform an automatic query against a state system or NCIC to quickly check for any “hits”.
- Mid-Market
- Reverse-geocode RapidSOS lat/long
- Reverse geocoding is not provided by RapidSOS and would need to be built into an integration separately.
- Show breadcrumb trail when the caller is moving instead of only updating map with most recent location. Ensure time stamp of time location was received is displayed.
- Enable the location to be stored as part of the call/incident record.
- Enable the location to be pushed to third-party applications (e.g., Map, CAD, recording, etc.)
- Show additional data (i.e., from the additional data API or integrated RapidSOS Portal) in a separate tab where it doesn’t distract the user when irrelevant. However, provide some indicator on the main screen that additional data is available. Examples could be when hovered over, or “lighting up” the icon in a different color, or some other appropriate indicator that is informative but not distracting.
- CAD Integration: For optimal user experience, consider providing a method for data such as vehicle license plate to be parsed to fields in CAD that would perform an automatic query against a state system or NCIC to quickly check for any “hits”.
- Small Business
- Reverse-geocode RapidSOS lat/long
- Reverse geocoding is not provided by RapidSOS and would need to be built into an integration separately.
- Show breadcrumb trail when the caller is moving instead of only updating map with most recent location. Ensure time stamp of time location was received is displayed.
- Enable the location to be stored as part of the call/incident record.
- Show additional data (i.e., from the additional data API or integrated RapidSOS Portal) in a separate tab where it doesn’t distract the user when irrelevant. However, provide some indicator on the main screen that additional data is available. Examples could be when hovered over, or “lighting up” the icon in a different color, or some other appropriate indicator that is informative but not distracting.
- CAD Integration: For optimal user experience, consider providing a method for data such as vehicle license plate to be parsed to fields in CAD that would perform an automatic query against a state system or NCIC to quickly check for any “hits”.