CADConnect Installation and Configuration – IamResponding

IamResponding's CADConnect software can be installed at an Emergency Communications Center (ECC) to feed live CAD data to the IamResponding Dashboard and mobile applications.

CADConnect's File Watcher integration option can be used with any CAD system that can export incident data to a JSON or XML file. Several vendor-specific integration options are also available.

NOTE: In some cases where the CAD system provides an externally accessible API, installation of CADConnect at the ECC may not be required. Please contact iar-dispatch@rapidsos.com to determine how to best interface with your CAD system.

Download CADConnect

CADConnect for Windows can be downloaded here:
https://download.iamresponding.com/files/CADConnect.zip

CADConnect for CentOS/RedHat 9 can be downloaded here:
https://download.iamresponding.com/files/CADConnectCentOS.tgz

Extracting CADConnect

Extract (unzip) the contents of the CADConnect ZIP file in a directory of your choice. The Local System user must have read/write access to this location.

Installing CADConnect as a Windows Service

In most cases, CADConnect should be installed as a Windows service so that it will automatically start after a reboot.

NOTE: If you are using the Linux version of CADConnect and need assistance with installing and running it as a systemd service, please contact iar-dispatch@rapidsos.com

To install CADConnect as a Windows service, run the following script as administrator from the directory where CADConnect has been placed:

WinSW.exe install

Example Output:

2025-09-15 14:34:47,604 INFO  - Installing service 'IamResponding CADConnect (IaRCADConnect)'...
2025-09-15 14:34:47,626 INFO  - Service 'IamResponding CADConnect (IaRCADConnect)' was installed successfully.

To start the service, run the following script as administrator:

WinSW.exe start

Example Output:

2025-09-15 14:35:53,433 INFO  - Starting service 'IamResponding CADConnect (IaRCADConnect)'...
2025-09-15 14:35:53,850 INFO  - Service 'IamResponding CADConnect (IaRCADConnect)' started successfully.

The service is now running and should be visible in Windows Services:

Once CADConnect has been installed as a service, it should start and run automatically when Windows is restarted.

To manually start CADConnect for troubleshooting or debugging, first ensure that it's not running as a Windows Service. CADConnect can be manually started in two ways:

Double click on the CADConnect program in the directory where it was unzipped:
From a command prompt, navigate to the directory where CADConnect has been unzipped to and then run the CADConnect command. For example:
```
C:\CADConnect>CADConnect
```

Configuring CADConnect

Once CADConnect is running, the configuration GUI will be accessible from a web browser running on the same computer by navigating to http://localhost:8000

NOTE: Once CADConnect has been configured (see below), the configuration browser window should be closed. CADConnect will continue to run in the background.

Select the CAD Integration type that will be used and click "Add". Please contact iar-dispatch@rapidsos.com if you need assistance determining which integration type to use.

The sections below show how to configure the File Watcher and Spillman FLEX integration types. Please contact iar-dispatch@rapidsos.com for additional instructions if you think that you need to use one of the other integration types.

Configuring Spillman FLEX

Spillman Settings

Connection Name - A name for this connection, such as the ECC name

IamResponding API Key - Enter your IamResponding CAD Incidents API Key (provided by IaR)

Spillman API URL - Enter the URL of the Spillman DataExchange API, including the port (the default port is 4081). For example, if the IP address of the Spillman API is 10.10.10.123, the URL would be http://10.10.10.123:4081/DataExchange/REST

Spillman API Username - Enter the Spillman username for the Spillman DataExchange API.

Note 1: It is strongly recommended that a dedicated username is configured for CADConnect that is different from any other applications accessing the DataExchange API (i.e. do not use the default xmluser for CADConnect)
Note 2: This user must have permissions to the following in the Spillman system:
- xmlquery
- tab_cdcdesc
- tab_cdccomnt
- tab_sycad
- tab_syunit
- tab_cdcall
- tab_rlmain
- tab_gbdirect
- Hint: After creating the user, log into the actual Flex Client with the new username/password first. The first login will create all the entries within Flex that the Rest Service will need:

Spillman API Password - Enter the password for the Spillman DataExchange API for the username configured above
Polling Interval - Configure how often CADConnect will poll the DataExchange API to check for new incident data

Spillman Advanced Settings

Most users will not need to change these settings

Log Level - Controls the amount of debugging information specific to the Spillman interface that will print to the log files

IamResponding CAD API URL - Only change this if directed to do so by IamResponding.

Combine Fire, Law, and EMS Incidents - Combines Fire, Law and EMS incidents with the LongTermCallID into a single incident. This can help eliminate duplicate notifications but may have other unintended side effects. Please consult with IamResponding before enabling this option.

Spillman API Request - This is the query that will be sent to the Spillman API. The default query will retrieve the CADActiveCallTable with associated data from the RadioLogUnitStatusTable and CADMasterCallCommentsTable. This field should only be changed in consultation with IamResponding engineering.

Exclude from Hash - This setting specifies fields in the data that is returned by the DataExchange API that will be ignored when checking for incident updates. By default, any GPS AVL data in the RadioLogUnitStatusTable will be ignored to prevent incident updates from being sent to IamResponding whenever a unit’s GPS position changes. This field should only be changed in consultation with IamResponding engineering.

Max Entry Age (Days) - Maximum number of days that an incident will be tracked before being removed from the tracking file.

Active Calls File - Path to the file used to track active incidents.

Save Archive XML - Enables saving a local copy of all XML files being sent to the IamResponding CAD Incidents API.

Archive Directory - Path to the directory where archived XML files will be saved.

Allow Self-Signed Certificates - Allows CADConnect to accept self-signed SSL certificates when accessing the FLEX API

Send Law Enforcement Comments - When enabled, incidents of type LAW will include comments when sent to IaR

Configuring File Watcher

File Watcher Settings

Connection Name - A name for this connection, such as the ECC name

IamResponding API Key - Enter your IamResponding CAD Incidents API Key (provided by IaR)

Watch Directory - The local or network directory to monitor for incident JSON or XML data files that have been exported by the CAD system

Use Polling Mode - When unchecked, CADConnect will listen for events from the operating system to determine that a new file has been placed in the Watch directory. When checked, CADConnect will also periodically poll to check for new files. When polling mode is selected, the "Delete Files After Processing" option will be automatically enabled. NOTE: Polling mode is recommended when the Watched directory is a network drive.

Polling Interval - Configure how often CADConnect will poll for new files in the Watched directory when polling mode is enabled

Delete Files When Processing - When enabled, CADConnect will delete files after they have been sent to IaR

File Watcher Advanced Settings

Log Level - Controls the amount of debugging information specific to the Spillman interface that will print to the log files

IamResponding CAD API URL - Only change this if directed to do so by IamResponding

File Extensions - Only files with the specified extensions will be detected

Save Archive Files - When checked, files will be moved to the /logs/[Connection Name]/archive directory after being sent to IaR

Configuring SQL Database Query

Prerequisites: ODBC Driver Installation

IMPORTANT: Before configuring the SQL Query integration, you must install a Microsoft ODBC Driver for SQL Server on the system where CADConnect is running. Windows does not include SQL Server ODBC drivers by default.

Installation Steps:

Download Microsoft ODBC Driver for SQL Server from: https://aka.ms/downloadmsodbcsql
Choose version 18.x (recommended) or 17.x, and select x64 architecture for 64-bit systems
Run the installer and follow the installation wizard
Restart CADConnect after installation
The available drivers will be automatically detected in the ODBC Driver dropdown in CADConnect (advanced settings)

Verifying Installation:

Open Windows ODBC Data Source Administrator (64-bit): C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ODBCAD32.EXE
Check the "Drivers" tab for installed SQL Server drivers

Common Issues

ODBC Driver Not Found:
- Ensure Microsoft ODBC Driver for SQL Server is installed (see Prerequisites above)
- Verify the driver name matches exactly (case-sensitive)
- Check that the driver architecture (32-bit vs 64-bit) matches your CADConnect installation
- If using "Other" option, ensure the exact driver name is entered
Connection String: If you get connection errors, try different drivers:
- ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server (newest, recommended)
- ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server (common)
- SQL Server Native Client 11.0 (older systems)
- SQL Server (legacy fallback)
View Not Found: Check schema name - might be [PSdata].[schema].[ViewName] instead of [PSdata].[dbo].[ViewName]
Authentication: Ensure the user has SELECT permissions on the views
Deadlocks: The integration handles SQL Server deadlock errors (1205) automatically

SQL Database Query Settings

Connection Name - A name for this connection, such as the ECC name

IamResponding API Key - Enter your IamResponding CAD Incidents API Key (provided by IaR)

Database Server - The address or hostname of the SQL Server database server (e.g., server.example.com or 192.168.1.100)

Database Name - The name of the database to query (e.g., PSdata)

Database User - The username for authenticating to the SQL Server database

Database Password - The password for the database user account

Primary Query - The main SQL query that will be executed to retrieve incident records. This query should return the primary incident data and must include the Unique ID Column. The query will be executed periodically based on the Polling Interval setting. Example: SELECT * FROM [PSdata].[dbo].[VW_BASIC_CALL_DATA_GeneralCallData] WHERE LiveCall = 1

Unique ID Column - The name of the column in the Primary Query results that contains a unique identifier for each incident (e.g., RecNo, ID). This column is used to track which incidents have already been sent to IamResponding and to link secondary queries to their parent incidents.

Secondary Queries - Optional additional SQL queries that will be executed for each incident returned by the Primary Query. Each secondary query can retrieve related data (such as units, comments, or additional incident details) that will be included in the JSON payload sent to IamResponding. For each secondary query, configure:

Query: The SQL query to execute. Use a question mark (?) as a placeholder for the value from the Primary Query Field.
Primary Query Field: The field name from the Primary Query results to use as a parameter (replaces the ? in the query).
Output Array Name: The name for this data in the JSON output sent to IamResponding (e.g., "units", "comments", "incident_data").

SQL Database Query Advanced Settings

Log Level - Controls the amount of debugging information specific to the SQL Database Query interface that will print to the log files

IamResponding CAD API URL - Only change this if directed to do so by IamResponding

Hash Table File - The filename used to store the hash table that tracks which incidents have been sent to IamResponding. This file is stored in the logs directory for this connection. Default: incident_hash_table.json

Polling Interval (seconds) - How often CADConnect will execute the Primary Query to check for new or updated incidents. Lower values provide more real-time updates but increase database load. Default: 5 seconds

Incident Retention (hours) - The number of hours to retain incident data in the hash table. Incidents older than this will be removed from tracking. This helps prevent the hash table from growing indefinitely. Default: 24 hours

Save Archive Files - When checked, incident data will be saved to the archive directory after being sent to IamResponding. This can be useful for troubleshooting or auditing purposes.

Archive Directory - The directory name (relative to the logs folder) where archived incident data will be stored when Save Archive Files is enabled. Default: archive

CADConnect Advanced Settings

Configuration Interface - IP address of the network interface used to expose the CADConnect configuration page. Set to 0.0.0.0 to make the configuration interface available to other computers on the LAN. Set to localhost to make it available only on the computer on which CADConnect software is running. Note: The application must be restarted for this setting to take effect.

GUI Network Port - The port used to access the CADConnect configuration page. Note: The application must be restarted for this setting to take effect.

Log Level - Controls the amount of debugging information that will print to the log files

Upgrading CADConnect

To upgrade to CADConnect 2.0 from IaR's CADConnect for Spillman or IaR's FileWatcher, follow these steps:

Stop the previous version of CADConnect or FileWatcher. From a command prompt, navigate to the CADConnect or FileWatcher directory and run:

WinSW.exe stop

Example output:

2025-09-15 16:22:52,639 INFO  - Stopping service 'IamResponding CADConnect (IaRCADConnect)'...
2025-09-15 16:22:52,662 INFO  - Service 'IamResponding CADConnect (IaRCADConnect)' stopped successfully.

Uninstall the service for the previous of version of CADConnect or FileWatcher:

WinSW.exe uninstall