same_resolve139
Tenderfoot
- #1
Thread Owner
Hi everyone,
I’m relatively new to metal detecting — I started last year in my spare time and quickly got hooked like many people here.
Pretty early on I started wishing I had a better way to keep track of my hunts. I was taking photos of finds, trying to remember where I had already searched, and keeping notes about locations, but everything ended up scattered across my phone.
I also found myself wanting to learn from my hunts over time — things like which areas produced finds and how thoroughly I’d covered a site.
Since I enjoy building software, I started working on something for myself that basically acts like a digital hunt diary.
It keeps track of:
Hunt path + coverage example
I like this because I can see where I’ve already searched and avoid accidentally covering the same ground again.
Find history
This lets me log items with photos and GPS pins so I can remember exactly where things came from.
Research / scouting tools
I’ve also been experimenting with terrain overlays when researching sites before a hunt.
The project turned into a full app called Aureal that I’ve been using myself for a while now.
If anyone is curious, here’s the site where I explain it a bit more:
aureallabs.com
But honestly I’d really appreciate feedback from people here since many of you have far more experience than I do:
I’m relatively new to metal detecting — I started last year in my spare time and quickly got hooked like many people here.
Pretty early on I started wishing I had a better way to keep track of my hunts. I was taking photos of finds, trying to remember where I had already searched, and keeping notes about locations, but everything ended up scattered across my phone.
I also found myself wanting to learn from my hunts over time — things like which areas produced finds and how thoroughly I’d covered a site.
Since I enjoy building software, I started working on something for myself that basically acts like a digital hunt diary.
It keeps track of:
- the path you walked during a hunt
- where finds were recovered
- photos and notes for each item
- research overlays when scouting areas
Hunt path + coverage example
I like this because I can see where I’ve already searched and avoid accidentally covering the same ground again.
Find history
This lets me log items with photos and GPS pins so I can remember exactly where things came from.
Research / scouting tools
I’ve also been experimenting with terrain overlays when researching sites before a hunt.
The project turned into a full app called Aureal that I’ve been using myself for a while now.
If anyone is curious, here’s the site where I explain it a bit more:
Aureal — The Best Metal Detecting App for Tracking Hunts and Finds
Track your metal detecting hunts with GPS, log finds with photos and GPS coordinates, overlay historic maps, and manage land permissions. Free metal detecting app for iOS.
aureallabs.com
But honestly I’d really appreciate feedback from people here since many of you have far more experience than I do:
- Do you track your hunts anywhere today?
- Would something like this be useful in the field?
- Anything you wish existed that would help while detecting?
