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I have updated my files for historical goldmines in Google Earth and have put them in PDF file that makes it simple to get the type and state that you want. Historical Gold Mines in Google Earth.pdf

I thought I’d try using a pedometer just to see how far I stroll along the beach on my hunts. The reviews I’ve read on many are not very complimentary. It seems the common complaint centers on accuracy and battery life. I’d appreciate your thoughts and recommendations. Thanks

I thought it would be cool to overlay a geological map onto a topographical map. And maybe a property map onto an aerial image map. Then I would like to put these custom maps onto a smartphone GPS app. That way when I’m in the field, I can see that I’m in a favorable rock type area or approaching a private property boundary. I see that MapWindow is a free GIS software that will let me make map layers. And for smartphones, it seems that Gaia GPS is a popular app. Does anyone have experience making custom maps on their desktop then downloading them onto a smartphone GPS app? If so, what desktop software and smartphone app do you like? Google Earth has layering capability... has anyone use GE to create downloadable map files for a smartphone? PS, if you have done this for a handheld GPS instead of a smartphone I'd enjoy hearing about that as well. Thanks

Thinking of downloading the Gaia GPS App to my iPhone. Wondering if anyone has experience with this App? Thanks for any input.

Hello, I am using an iPad as a topo map when I’m out in the field, and also GoogleEarth, and have already downloaded the BLM’s active and inactive gold mine and prospects KML database for Google Earth and was wondering if anyone has found a good source for downloading BLM and/or National Forest KML files? I only seem to have found some local ones for Alaska on the BLM map server website, but nothing for any of the lower Western states. Thanks!

I use to mine in No. CA in the 80s & 90s and used topographical maps back then with lots of details , fire & logging road etc. Any suggestions , I would like to check display & available details ?

I haven’t been able to get away and hunt very much this year due to various reasons and last week I finally found a little free time so I headed to the hills for a few days of hanging out with Zed. In anticipation of getting away for a hunt I called Rob and had him send me one of those new SteelPHASE enhancer/filter’s and wow fastest shipping I’ve ever experienced, Rob must have jumped on a plane and stuffed it in my mail box, or could have just been overnight shipping anyway it was really fast. Gold was very scarce nails, tiny bits of rust, tacks and bird shot were a plenty the tiny piece of gold weighing in at a whopping 1.95 grains I did find this trip gave a clear indication down under around 3” of forrest mulch and soil, this is the smallest bit of gold I’ve found with the 7000 to date. I’d attribute finding this piece to the sP01 it made the zed a little more stable and tightened up the target response it was easier to tell the difference between ground noise and targets and I was digging some deep small bits of rusty nail and other itsy bits of trash. The sP01 was comfortable to carry too, I was a little concerned about adding another gadget to the mix with more cables to get in the way and after getting my enhancer I was thinking the cable used for connecting to the wm12 might be a little long. Wrong, everything was perfect and if not for the fact my detector was running great I could forget anything was different in my setup. With the sP01 clipped to my zed harness on the head phone shoulder side and the wm12 on the other shoulder the cable ran perfectly over the wm12 shoulder around my back and under the arm on the sP01 side. Once plugged in the cable never hung up or got in my way was comfortable, really great product engineering. I also bought a SpotX satellite device, so many (most) of the remote areas we go into alone have no cell service and help is a long way off. In short it’s good, but not great an evolving technology. In a nutshell it works although on its own schedule at least with non-emergency texts, most of mine were sent, some did not and I think there are limitations on how soon one text can be sent after another I’m still figuring the little quirks out something with traffic limitations and the system needing to reset...but, don’t ask cause I don’t know. The service has nine different rates based on 3 different plans, a basic, advanced and an unlimited service ranging from around $14 a month to $40 a month for the unlimited flex plan. The basic plan monthly payments gets you 12 texts a month, the advanced plan get you 100 texts a month plus more frequent satalite access and unlimited is well... the three tiers are repeated except when you pay the year up front you get all your available text limit for the year and they all are good for the entire year plus it’s a couple bucks cheaper, the three levels are again repeated as flex, this has slightly higher rates and no one year commitment you can start/stop as it fits all the plans come with an $100 activation fee. I chose the advanced with 1200 texts for the year. I also added rescue insurance, roadside assistance and replacement insurance for an additional $85, the rescue insurance provides $100K/$50K per occurrence, roadside 50miles towing free, off road ok and winching service available at the push of a button that also sends the tow service your gps and a map with your location pinpointed, you can also send the gps data and map with a text. All in all The device, tax, fee and service for the year set me back roughly $750, cheap insurance I think. There are also other tracking and social networking features, it’s actually a great device and gave me some comfort knowing if I needed I could get help and also it was great being able to send my wife a note and let her know everything was good.

Hello everyone, I'm getting my first GPS device and narrowed it down to a few. I was wondering if anyone experienced with these can tell me if im doing this correctly or not. 🙂 Garmin GPSMAP 66s or GPSMAP 64s. Which one would last the longest, most durable Also, correct me if im wrong. For us electronic prospectors wouldnt it be a good idea to get the HuntsView map? Or do i get the SE 24k and combine it with the BirdsEye What map(s) do you all use?

I use Google Maps for most of my navigation and prospecting trips. It gets me to where I want to go and if I download the offline map I still know where I am out in the field with the GPS on my phone. I can put in locations from various formats but I still have not been able to find the format for putting in the numbers in the UTM-EAST and UTM-NORTH format. How is that done on the search bar in maps? Mitchel

Has anyone used “Land Matters” website to look for a prospecting site? I recently did, and today I went out to the selected spots. None of the topo photos were the same, some roads and trails don’t exist anymore. I also forgot to take my GPS...Those photos must be ancient!

Finally got a video up that goes over and shows some the uses and benefits of lidar maps for the gold prospector and metal detectorist. I also delve into some drone usage stuff at the end of the video. Let me know what you think, and if your interested in some feel free to contact me. I will hopefully have a website up in the near future, when i do i will let everyone know here. Thanks for watching!

G'day everybody, Just thought I would start a thread on making your own gold maps to better your chances at striking it rich or at least finding a bit of gold. If this topic has already been done before please let me know & I'll remove it. I can't find anything specific on making your maps on the forum. So what are the things available for us to use in making custom gold maps? Geological maps, topographical maps, books such as Ghost & gold series, Department of mining websites, google earth etc...there is plenty of resources that we can use. I live in sunny north QLD Australia, so any info I can share with you will be based on what we have available in our QLD. Every state in Australia has its own mining department along with (rules and regulations) that differ from state to state. Department of Mines & Energy in QLD is the website I use to gather a lot of information, so far it has paid out very well in some areas. In particular small isolated gold occurrences. I often look around the fringes of existing gold fields looking for potential gold locations especially along fault lines with historical gold workings. The more remote the area the better, as there are fewer chances of modern detectors having worked the area in recent years. To get the ball rolling I thought I would just post a couple of pics of areas I have researched & marked out where I've found gold & see where it leads us.

Not sure if any of you knew of this site: https://www.historicaerials.com/ They have a view that shows old photos back to 1938 and topos going way back. The viewer is slow but has nice reference as you can click through the dates and see changes. It is a little hard to see but you can see some old trails, lost foundations and even early farm fields that have either been built over or trees have grown in. I use it to find some spots and I plug the gps coordinates into my phone's gps.

We've been considering some additions to the map tools on Land Matters and would like user's feedback. Land area locations in the U.S. are typically described by their legal land description (PLSS). This is the only system that has been physically surveyed and has actual physical markers on the ground. That's why it's the system for legally describing land parcels. All the Land Matters maps have the PLSS included as a possible display item but a lot of people (military) have been trained to use a grid to describe actual ground locations. Graticules are very much like grids but they have the advantage of following the earth's curvature, unlike grid maps. Digital graticules are capable of increasing in resolution as you zoom in to an area. These are advantages of a graticule but the use of a graticule is just like using a grid. It's possible to use both the PLSS and a graticule when mapping so we thought we would see if some people would like the option of using a grid type mapping system. To that end I have included graticule layers on our historic places and ghost towns map to let folks try out this system and see if they would like these layers included on other Land Matters maps. If you have an interest give it a try at the Historic Places Map. You can read more about grids, graticules and their uses on our New Projects page. Let us know if you would like this feature added to the maps. It's a bunch of work to make those changes so we'll have to see some demand before we add these in. Barry

Maybe some of you already know about this and have the phone to support it. I have one of the flip phones that nobody wants to steal, so it really amazes me. On his phone he dials up google earth map and it instantly it brings up the boundaries, acreage and name & address of the owner. It would be fantastic to have the same ap for claims, showing owner and boundaries, no more accidental trespassing.

Not quite sure where to put this Steve. It will probably have some interest for western prospectors and the eastern hunters are going to find it really useful. You decide if it needs to be moved and I'll go with it. Land Matters has begun a new section on their website for new projects in development. The most recent new project is Forest Ownership. This new map tracks Forest Boundaries as well as both surface and subsurface (mineral) ownership on the National Forest System. "Forest Ownership" may sound funny since the common assumption is that all National Forest lands are created equal and are owned by the federal government. Unfortunately it's not really that simple. Land status within the forests varies greatly depending on several factors. We hope by developing this map set individual areas of the forests can be better understood by those who live near, use and research the United States forest reserves. These maps should help you understand why some areas of forest are off limits, why you see houses and farms within a National Forest and who owns the mineral rights in any particular area of a forest. In particular visitors to the eastern states forests can discover why they don't have the free use rights western forest users do. This map is going to be an eye opener for those who believe that all National Forests are the same. Many of the eastern forests are not owned or controlled by the federal government. Often when the U.S. has purchased some rights to surface use the minerals and timber are still owned in whole or in part by private individuals or corporations. When you go to the New Projects Page be sure and click on the "Forest Ownership" tab in the center of the page and read the background I've written for these new map layers. That background can really help you understand what you are seeing on these maps. The purpose of introducing these new projects while they are still in development is to get user feedback. You can have a direct influence on how these maps are developed and used as well as helping Land Matters define which projects should receive priority in their development. Please leave any comments you may have and if a particular project seems worthwhile consider supporting that project to help it along. Here is the link to the New Projects Page. Just click on the "Forest Ownership" tab then choose the Forest Ownership map link on the right to open the new project map in a new tab. Barry

Hello all. I'm planning to do some serious digging about in Cape Breton next summer and some of the area I'm planning on exploring has no cell phone coverage. I'm wondering if it may be prudent to consider investing in a PLB just in case. I can't help think about that poor guy in the US who had to self-amputate a few years ago. Has anyone purchased one of these units for themselves?

.......... The Ordnance Survey TRAIL Here's what i found: 1. Software is utter useless tosh! Error messages, jerky movements, sluggish. Im tech savvy - But this thing takes a computer programmer to operate. 2. The touch screen doesnt react. There made to last and take knocks, but still you cant move the screen to look at your maps. 3. Mine turned up faulty with rubber joystick not allowing me to look left. 4. Price is stupendously high for a piece of poo. 5. Signal takes an age and a half to lock on. 6. WIFI takes an age to sync, other times it never will. (That was the last straw). 7. Compass is the worst i have ever used. Never, even after calibration does it show a true heading. Spoke to customer service and they said there not too reliable. Hang on ..... Dont I rely on the compass to find my way around on foot?? He sounded confused ... and again this was the last straw. And so...... I now have the Garmin Montana 680. AND ..... Its bloody brilliant. Review to follow ? Andy.

I started checking more into a mention of XP DEUS Version 4 updates, especially this badly translated information from a French website: So I started Googling and there is a Facebook page for the app at https://www.facebook.com/godetect/ Right now it is mainly just a finds recording and track mapping app much like the Minelab XChange system, but phone based. One photo really caught my eye however. It apparently can use the phone location services plus orientation features in combination with the app to superimpose past finds onto a view of the terrain. The prospecting applications for this alone are obvious. After my pretty much blowing them off last year XP is really getting my interest now.

I didn't find any results when I searched. I'm looking for some advice on a good hand-held GPS to use when prospecting. Is there such a thing as one that is easy to use and easy to connect to a computer? Thanks for helping a novice.

My "Old Faithful" Garmin GPSMap 60CSx appears to be reaching the end of its serviceable life, after years of being dropped on rocks, bikes, down slopes, drenched, fallen into rivers, taped onto dogs, and being the point of contact on its bike mount between Terra Firma and myself head over heels on my mountain bike. Starting to malfunction a tad if you can believe it! Can't say enough good about it - some of the best money I ever spent bar none :) I do a ton of work with Google Earth plotting targets, claims and such. My stompin' grounds are devoid of cellular data, so any device that is DetectorProspector approved and might have some capabilities for satellite imagery, overlays - I would really appreciate guidance. rex

This is pretty neat stuff, and I think the applications for prospectors and relic hunters are obvious... http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140103-new-england-archaeology-lidar-science/

We are going to be moving to Tinker AFB, OK in June, but in the meantime, while still based on Eglin AFB, FL, I have been researching old, now demolished family housing areas to hunt before we leave. I have discovered a major housing area, where all the homes were built between 1955 and 1962. Still standing in 1969, but now demolished and open fields. Very easy to research using NETRonline Historic Aerials against current Google Satellite maps. The kicker of this area is that it is on-base, and due to very restricted access, these fields are very likey virgin for hunting. I expect a lot of silver, wheaties and more in the front areas of these homes, as well as the always-open fields behind the housing circles, where kids would play, and parties held. Only hunting them will prove out my theory, but I have four remaining weeks at Eglin to find what I can! Here are the Aerial vs. current satellite pics. After we leave, I hope someone into MD'ing will be assigned to Eglin and find this post. (Of course, I hope I've already recovered ALL the silver!! LOL)

A topic got brought up at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/1510-awesome-day-in-the-desert-sw/?p=17706 which is so important I wanted to cover it in detail on it's own thread. There is a feature in digital photography whereby information about the photo can be encoded directly into the photo itself. This originally was just information about the photo itself including the original file name and camera setting information, date taken, etc. There are two common formats you are likely to run into - EXIF and IPTC. EXIF tends to be technical details about the photo, and IPTC is more about copyright, description, and other details useful for publishing. Details on EXIF and IPTC here. When cameras equipped with GPS became a possibility, GPS information was added to the EXIF data. This was normally just something common to phones with GPS built in but more cameras are now coming with GPS built in and more GPS units are coming with cameras built in. Activities like geotagging and such make tying location data to a photo very popular. All those photos loaded up for viewing in Google Earth? Way easier if the location data is encoded into the photo. I use a great little free program called IrfanView which is amazingly powerful and compact. The IrfanView portable version can run off a USB stick. IrfanView has a photo information tab under Image in the menu which reveals all the EXIF and IPTC information, and allows the IPTC information to be modified. You can also set options for stripping EXIF data, both on image save or via batch processing. Like I said, very powerful little program. When you display the EXIF information in IrfanView, it offers to display the photo location in Google Maps, Google Earth, and some other mapping programs. Great for photos you took but can't remember where. OK, here is a photo I took on my phone, cropped, resized, modified the brightness, and added a caption. I saved as a renamed jpg but did not toggle the checkbox that strips EXIF data. I want to show that just because an image has been modified does not mean that data gets changed. Here is the image, and then a shot from IrfanView showing the EXIF data.... Now, you could save my lake image to your computer, and open it in IrfanView and view the EXIF data, but there is an easier way. Depending on your browser you need to get the address of the first photo I posted. If you use Chrome, just right click on the photo, and choose copy image address. Or you may have to click on the photo, choose the Save option, and copy the address out of the browser window. Bottom line depending on the browser you need to get the address where the image resides online. In this case the address for the lake image is http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/uploads/monthly_01_2016/post-1-0-57762000-1451694506.jpg If you have copied that address (again, easy way is with Chrome) now go to this website http://www.verexif.com/en/ and where it says Or paste a picture URL paste in the address of the photo and hit return. A page will pop up with the basic EXIF information, and you will see a map at the bottom of the page showing you where I took that photo!!!! Notice the site has an option for stripping EXIF information from your own photos. It gets better. If you have an iPhone or similarly equipped device it even knows the direction you are pointing the camera, and this data is also encoded. If you did download my photo and open it in IrfanView you can load the location directly to Google Earth and see where I was and which direction I was pointing the camera. In Google Earth below as loaded from IrfanView the view was looking straight to the top of the screen capture which is rather obvious since I was taking a photo of the lake. The funny part is I named the photo "looking west" and now that I see where I was and the direction of photo it was looking east. OK, lessons learned. First, just use a camera without GPS, which is what I normally do. If you use a phone or other GPS enabled device, learn where to shut the EXIF GPS recording off or just turn off the GPS when taking photos. Even then I would use IrfanView to make sure you did it right. Possibly the most dangerous thing is uploading directly from a phone as it is too easy to forget and load up location data without thinking about it. Many sites like this one resize large images and EXIF information may get stripped in the process. In fact it is easier to lose the information than retain it if you do much with the image. It is not always bad stuff to have and keeping it can be a good thing - I purposefully use EXIF and IPTC information to help insure that people copying my photos without permission might be caught using the encoded data. It really is only the GPS location data that can be a problem given the nature of prospecting. But never count on the data getting stripped by a website, be sure it is not there in the first place if you do not wish it to be. We all really like photos, myself in particular, which is why I set this forum up with generous photo display options. I sure do not want to discourage people from posting photos - I want to encourage it. But do be careful when posting photos from a GPS enabled device to be sure you are not posting more information than you intended.