DigProof: Metal Detecting Log

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About this app

DigProof is the paperwork half of metal detecting in England, Wales and Northern
Ireland: who gave you permission to be on the land, exactly where a find came
from, and the statutory clock that starts when you think something might be
treasure.

PERMISSIONS COME FIRST
A find cannot be recorded without a permission attached to it. Each permission
holds the landowner's name and contact, the land it covers, the date agreed, an
optional expiry, the agreed finds split, whether detecting is allowed on
scheduled or protected land, and a photograph of the signed agreement. The list
shows you at a glance which permissions are in date, which are close to expiry
and which have no end date recorded.

THE TREASURE CLOCK
Flag a find as "this might be treasure" and DigProof records that date as a
separate fact from the day you dug it. The notice period under the Treasure Act
1996 runs from the later of the day after the find and the day you first
believed it might be treasure, so an object identified months later has a
different deadline from the day it came out of the ground. Every countdown names
the date it counted from and which limb of the test produced it. The clock, the
treasure test and the deadline reminders are available at every tier.

THE TREASURE TEST
A guided walk through the current statutory classes, including the significance
class added on 30 July 2023, which covers an object at least 200 years old with
any part metal where it gives exceptional insight into history, archaeology or
culture. DigProof never tells you an object is not treasure. It tells you it may
be, or that it does not appear to meet the test and to report it if in doubt.

FINDSPOTS
Each find stores the device coordinates and a British National Grid reference
worked out from them, at six, eight or ten figures. You can also type a grid
reference by hand, so the app works with the GPS turned off. Depth, material,
apparent period, description and photographs sit on the same record.

PAPERWORK YOU CAN HAND OVER
Generate a permission agreement for the landowner to sign, and export a finds
record as a PDF laid out with the fields a Finds Liaison Officer asks for, plus
CSV.

OUTINGS
Date, permission, hours, ground conditions, machine and settings, so a day with
nothing in the bag is still worth recording.

WHO IT IS FOR
Detectorists who hold permissions on real land and intend to keep them.

WHAT IT DOES NOT DO
DigProof does not identify objects, does not value them, and does not submit
anything to the Portable Antiquities Scheme or to a coroner. It prepares the
record; you make the report. It is not legal advice. Scotland runs a different
legal system and is named in the app rather than tested, with a link to Treasure
Trove Scotland.

Your records are stored on your phone. There is no account to create and no
sign-in.

Contact: [e-mail]
Privacy policy: https://clearstackapps.com/privacy

What’s new

First release.

Keep your landowner permissions and your findspots in one place, and let the app work out the Treasure Act notice period for you. The clock counts from the day you first thought a find might be treasure, not from the day you dug it, and it always shows you which date it counted from.

Generate a permission agreement for the landowner to sign, and export a finds record laid out with the fields a Finds Liaison Officer asks for.