RapidDeploy was founded with the mission of saving lives by reducing response times after CEO Steve Raucher lost his brother in an offshore sea accident in Cape Town, South Africa. It is an open and integrated emergency response platform, transforming 9-1-1 communications centres into data-centric organizations in US. It is leveraged by over 1500, 911 agencies in 20 states nationwide.
RapidDeploy integrates with a diverse network of data, applications, and solution providers to enhance operational and tactical decision-making. “We have formed a highly curated centralized Next Gen 911 ecosystem with the richest source of critical information and technology—unifying mobile signals, diverse datasets from medical to weather, traffic, etc. and call information into a single screen. With our curated partner network, we can ensure that we deliver intelligent mission-critical data to 911 agencies to provide streamlined access to life-saving information,” says Steve Raucher, CEO of RapidDeploy in an interview with Geospatial World.
RapidDeploy’s other Co-founder, Brett Meyerowitz, was surprised by the antiquated technology and lack of data and context that was provided to emergency response teams. Thus, Brett and Raucher teamed up and established RapidDeploy with a promise to bring cloud-native technology to everyone in public safety, ensuring that telecommunicators, first responders and 911 agencies have access to the critical information they need to improve emergency response and save lives.
The RapidDeploy platform provides intelligent, mission-critical information and insights designed to improve location accuracy, situational awareness, modern communications and 911 centre performance.
What is RapidONE and how does it work? How is it different from other solutions present in the market?
RapidONE is a browser-based 911 call handling solution directly integrated within Radius Mapping, our next-generation mapping solution used by 911 centres throughout the country. The new call-handling solution provides unified communications, integrating 911 call-taking with text, real-time video sharing, and other relevant applications that impact the emergency response workflow.
Unlike the majority of 911 call handling solutions available today, which are on-premises solutions and unable to integrate with next-generation mapping technology, RapidONE is browser-based, fully portable and delivers a unique combination of call handling and mapping all in one – creating a more unified emergency response ecosystem.
Explain the technology behind RapidONE and how it locates the caller.
RapidONE is built to i3 NENA standards and supports ESInet, which enables the solution to be browser-based and support hybrid work environments.
RapidONE is embedded in RapidDeploy’s primary call-taking map, Radius Mapping, which pairs RapidDeploy’s propriety location technology with 911 calls. It combines network location and mobile location data to pinpoint callers and ensure they are found quickly. It also includes RapidLocate, to request GPS coordinates for those who don’t have mobile location data.
Radius Mapping is powered by a Next Generation 911 GIS platform that leverages Esri Geospatial Cloud and the 911 centre’s authoritative GIS data. In addition to countless base maps and feature layers, custom map layers and authoritative geocoding services can be easily configured as needed.
Having an accurate caller location is critical in the mission to save lives and provide timely emergency response every second of every day. We regularly hear examples from telecommunicators, first responders and others working within 911 agencies where RapidDeploy’s solutions played a critical role in the emergency response workflow and outcome, from boating incidents, lost hikers, kidnapped victims, domestic violence, car accidents and more.
What are the existing challenges in emergency response systems and how your cloud-native platform is planning to address them?
The majority of calls received by 911 centres are processed using outdated on-premises call handling solutions, which are unable to leverage next generation mapping technology. The limitations of on-premise solutions lead to data and communication siloes, multi-monitor cumbersome workflows and fuel the staffing crisis, which many of our customers cite as the number one challenge facing public safety.
RapidONE’s unified, cloud-native solution directly supports hybrid work environments, eliminates legacy data silos, and consolidates the multi-monitor cumbersome workflows by supporting all forms of communication with the caller alongside other mission-critical information in a single place.
Giving telecommunicators the option to work from home with RapidONE by providing a browser-based call handling solution that also reduces the number of monitors needed, and provides more working options.
Telecommunicators currently have a siloed workflow that uses multiple software programs, across multiple screens. With RapidONE, call handling, mapping, and communications are combined into a single pane of glass (i.e. all on one screen), simplifying the 911 workflow and making it more efficient. It also makes it easier to utilize mission-critical information to improve situational awareness, helping keep first responders safe. School safety is unfortunately becoming more of a challenge for first responders as well. We’re starting to see states respond with legislation requiring things like panic buttons and indoor floor plans. RapidONE incorporates all of that data as part of the call-handling solution.
