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General RapidSOS

What is the RapidSOS Developer Portal?

  • The RapidSOS Developer portal provides guidance, resources, and available SDKs and API documentation to assist in implementing RapidSOS solutions into your application.

Who can use the APIs on the RapidSOS Developer Portal?

  • Typically, two types of groups utilize our APIs. These tend to include:
    • Public Safety Integrations - Those that need to receive emergency related information (such as ECCs, PSAPs, etc.)
    • Tech Partners - Those that need to send emergency related information (such as Apple, Google, etc.)
  • If you fit into one (or both) of these categories, you are likely eligible to register for an account.

What do I need to get started?

  • To use the APIs on the RapidSOS Developer Portal, you need to have a developer account and an authentication token/keys. You can register an account by emailing partnerteam@rapidsos.com if you are a Public Safety Partner or support@rapidsos.com if you are a Tech Partner.

After submitting, RapidSOS will send you an email with instructions to get started.

Check the Getting Started page for further instructions and to learn how to get an authentication token.

What is OAuth 2.0?

  • OAuth 2.0 is a protocol that allows a user to grant a third-party web site or application access to the user's protected resources, without necessarily revealing their long-term credentials or even their identity. ... The client uses the access token to access the protected resources hosted by the resource server.
  • This is the primary protocol used by RapidSOS for the available APIs, unless otherwise noted

Connectivity

What connectivity policy is in place?

  • The RapidSOS Intelligent Safety Platform can be queried (either via the REST APIs, the NG911 interfaces, or otherwise - the rules are always the same) over public networks only when using TLS along with tightly-controlled API keys
  • Access is rate-limited and monitored. By default, each API key set is rate-limited to 1000 requests per minute.
  • Production access keys are granted only to authorized personnel with a documented chain of custody of production credentials.
  • Connections should always be "inbound" to our system as standard HTTPS requests over TCP port 443.
  • The Platform will never make "outbound" connections to any municipal system except to respond to queries.
  • Additional details are documented here:
    • This developer portal is also the mechanism by which API keys are administered, as documented, once a Support or Partner request is submitted.
    • Once keys are in the hands of authorized personnel, the security of those keys is their responsibility.
    • If ever abuse is detected (large volumes of spam traffic, anomalous query activity akin to number scanning, etc), access to the APIs may be throttled or suspended to protect the integrity and security of the system, on a per-API-key basis.
    • No unauthenticated traffic will be permitted through the production system - i.e. valid API keys must be used for all requests.
  • Modifications to the values of parameters are possible for custom network interconnections (e.g. for a large number of call-taker stations or PSAPs, the rate-limits can be set higher). For high-volume setups though, we recommend maintaining more than one set of API credentials per site.

Can a VPN be used for integration?

  • If a VPN is required for integration, RapidSOS utilizes an AWS VPN with a network proxy. Partners must provide internal IP address.

Is an internet connection required for integrations?

  • Yes. Internet connection is required for all of our integrations. If no internet access, the partner will need to create a proxy server and whitelist URLs.

Data

Can the source of an incident be a text or call?

  • Yes. The source, whether it is a text, or call can get displayed.

Public Safety Partners

API Behavior

Is there a RapidSOS API that will tell us if a GPS coordinate falls inside/out the geofence of the current API keys?

  • No. This is not available at this time. A 400 Error will likely be presented.

Can RapidSOS support international phone number querying?

  • RSOS Portal and Public Safety Integration APIs support international phone number querying.

Is a .NET client layer provided for APIs?

  • RapidSOS does not provide a .NET client layer for public safety integration APIs.

Location Data

How many payload locations are provided for text-to-911?

  • RapidSOS gets 1 location payload per message for text-to-911.

Can location be received if location services are disabled on the device?

  • When a 911 call is made, we receive the location even if a person has their location services off.

Does RapidSOS provide location data for landlines?

  • No. RapidSOS provides location data for mobile devices only.

Does the RapidSOS location solution work on older devices?
Location solutions available by RapidSOS support:

  • iOS 12 and above
  • Android 4.0 and above

Note: Microsoft and Blackberry devices are not currently supported.

Can locations be tracked without internet connectivity?

  • No. Internet connectivity is required to track location.

Do any RapidSOS APIs provide a Z coordinate for altitude?
Yes. The LEI API can provide a Z coordinate for altitude.

Integration Process

What is the integration process with RapidSOS for a Public Safety Partner?
Refer to this page for specific details. A summary of the steps involved are:

  1. Partner Signs NDA
  2. Partner has introductory call with RapidSOS Partner team to discuss how RapidSOS can fit into Partner’s product
  3. Partner reviews RapidSOS Developer Portal for technical details on offerings
  4. Partner and RapidSOS team meet again for technical deep dive
  5. Partner fills out Partner SignUp Form and Sandbox Credential Request Form
  6. RapidSOS Engineer provides Partner Sandbox credentials to begin testing
  7. Partner develops and has check-ins with RapidSOS team to ensure correct direction and base requirements are met
  8. Once Partner is satisfied with integration, Partner submits integration approval form for RapidSOS team to review
  9. RapidSOS reviews submission from Partner and schedules call between both parties to discuss
  10. If requirements not met, Partner makes changes and re-submits approval
  11. If requirements are met, integration is approved and RapidSOS will notify Partner when they can begin implementing the integration at mutual ECCs

PSAP (ECC) Configuration

What are the firewall rules?

  • From the perspective of municipal networks, firewalls only need to support outbound HTTPS requests over TCP port 443 and allow their responses (via stateful inspection rules or otherwise). In addition, when traffic is to go over public networks, DNS resolution should be supported (we use DNS as one layer of our high-availability setup).
  • From the perspective of the RapidSOS network, we similarly limit inbound traffic from public networks to TCP port 443.

Can VPNs be used?

  • For certain networks, RapidSOS already maintains a few dedicated IPSec site-to-site VPNs and would be able to spin up new ones upon request as long as it's not an exotic flavor of VPN. The list of VPN hardware supported by RapidSOS can be found here.
  • So far RapidSOS has always worked with statically-routed VPNs, but should be able to support BGP dynamic routing as well (as indicated in the above link).
    • To go this route would require coordination and technical resource allocation and scheduling, and thus will not be the fastest option available to enable integration with our network.
    • We would note that when done with proper firewall configuration, in the context of locally-originated "outbound-only" TLS connections are not less secure for the originating network than using a site-to-site VPN.

Is DNS whitelisting an available capability, or is IP only available?

  • RapidSOS relies on DNS for traffic over public networks as part of our high-availability and auto-scaling strategies. Thus, when whitelisting it should be done by domain (i.e. api.rapidsos.com) - most modern firewalls support this via standard stateful inspection rules.
  • a list of known domains that have had to be whitelisted in order for RapidSOS Portal and various integrations to work can be found here

How can official municipal networks access the data interfaces on the RapidSOS Intelligent Safety Platform?

  • Special considerations are sometimes needed. In general, RapidSOS is committed to being as flexible as needed to accommodate the connectivity requirements of any municipal network, and already supports a variety of configurations.

Tech Partners

Location Data

Supplement (Additional) Data

If a payload is sent, then another is sent without data from the original upload, what happens?

  • By default, RAPIDSOS updates it to blank (no data), even if it is an optional field.