Cadpage and Active911 Parsers

Cadpage and Active911 have had and continue to have a very close working relationship, since the fall of 2012.  So much so that many users do not realize we are separate organizations.  When Active911 released their own Android app in October, 2013,  it introduced a fair degree of separation.  Currently, they are trying to implement their own replacement for the Cadpage parsing library.

Parsers are the bits of computer software that turn the dispatch alerts you receive from dispatch centers into meaningful information.  Since there is no standardization on how these alerts are formatted, we basically need a separate parser for each dispatch center.  When you select a location where Cadpage is operating, what you are really doing is selecting which parser (or parsers) will be called on to interpret your text dispatch alerts.  There are a lot of these --  a bit over 1000 parsers in the Cadpage parser library.  While many of them are fairly trivial, quite a few can get very complicated.

For most of their history, Active911 has been able to support the vast number of different dispatch centers because they were running Cadpage parsers on their servers, even for alerts that were ultimately destined for Active911 apps running on IPhone or Android devices.  This has been a good deal for both parties.  Active911 gets instant parser support from a huge number of existing dispatch centers. Cadpage gets financial support and a huge collection of sample calls we can use to test and improve our parsers.

Since December, 2013,  Active911 is actively working on a new system to replace the entire Cadpage parser library.  They currently have a bit over 400 parsers implemented, probably half of which are replacing Cadpage parsers and half are supporting locations that Cadpage is still working on.  As things stand now (5-5-14), most agencies are using the standard Alert Server which always uses the Active911 parsers when they are available, those results are received and displayed by all devices, including Cadpage apps running on Android phones.  The latest releases of Cadpage include a warning message when the alert was processed with an Active911 parser.   

Active911 is currently rolling a new, currently Beta, alert server that will use Cadpage parser for the Cadpage app and Active911 parsers for the Active911 app.  If your agency is using the new alert server, the Cadpage and Active911 apps may report different results.

If you are currently running the Cadpage app with Active911, and are happy with the results you are getting, please consider staying with Cadpage.  

We have found that it is possible to configure both the Cadpage and Active911 apps to process the same alerts on the same device. Detailed directions on how to set this up can be found at Cadpage and Active911.

Both Cadpage and Active911 are dedicated to providing you with the best possible dispatch alert and mapping services.  If you run into a situation where either agency is failing in some manner, we strongly encourage you to report the problem so that it can be corrected.  For problems with the Cadpage app, long press the alert that has an issue and select "Report Problem" to generate a support email about the call.  For problems with the Active911 app, call their support number at (541) 223-7992, or use the contact form available at www.active911.com.

Updates:  We will be providing updates on this website as the situation evolves.