Zetron and RapidSOS Provide More Accurate Location Data, Vital Time Savings to Public Safety 9-1-1 Agencies

The advanced location identification functionality is a product of Zetron’s partnership with RapidSOS, an emergency technology company that sends life-saving data from connected devices to 911 and first responders.

The NG911 Clearinghouse from RapidSOS is a NENA i3 compliant Location Information Server (LIS) and Additional Data Repository (ADR) that is integrated with Zetron’s NG9-1-1 MAX Call Taking solution to securely access device-based location information from enabled smartphones, without the need for an app. Zetron was the first NG9-1-1 solution provider to make RapidSOS data generally available within its call taking system.

The integration was utilized in a pilot project for the Tennessee Emergency Communications Board, in which the device-based location data captured was compared directly with ALI location data and ground truth locations to measure accuracy. The results were resounding, with 97% of call locations provided through the integration falling within 50 meters of ground truth, compared to only 44% of the provided carrier ALI data falling within the 50 meter range for the same calls.

“This is life-saving technology,” said Curtis Sutton, Executive Director of Tennessee’s Emergency Communications Board. “We can actually find somebody in seconds, rather than waiting until we can narrow that field down to the location that’s provided by the traditional methods. I haven’t seen a group of PSAPs more excited about testing something than they have this technology because they realize the value of it.”

While the RapidSOS NG911 Clearinghouse provided data is made available within the MAX Call Taking interface in addition to traditional ALI data (i.e., not replacing it), it was shown to provide more accurate location information, making it more useful and capable of saving precious time for center dispatchers, first responders, and the people in need of their help.