Read the land. Strike gold.
Gold Prospector is the all-in-one app for recreational gold prospectors and metal detectorists. Built by a lifelong prospector, it brings together AI, GIS mapping, LiDAR, historic topos and more!
— FEATURES —
OFFLINE MAPS
Download areas before you go and use them with no service, even in airplane mode. LiDAR, historic topo, roads and trails, claims, public lands, property lines, 3D terrain, and all the other layers come with it. Log finds and record tracks with no signal.
NATIVE LIDAR™
Our newest addition to the map. Custom half-meter LiDAR with six looks built for different ground: Polaris, Polaris Ridge, Nova, Eclipse, Zenith and Horizon. Adjust each one to your eye, tilt it in 3D, and take it offline. Available in California now, with more states coming.
SITESCAN™
Place a square on any spot and scan it into a 3D model. Four analyses read the ground: Workings finds old pits, trenches and tailings; Flow Path shows where runoff carries gold and where it settles; Drift traces where material moves downhill; Traps ranks the spots where moving water drops its load. Tap a result to see why, drop pins, and save scans to come back to. Available where Native LiDAR™ exists.
1-METER LIDAR HILLSHADE
USGS 3DEP shading that reveals what the ground remembers: placer cuts, hydraulic pits, tailings, benches, and old water races, even under a century of brush. Ultra 1m covers California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, with more states coming.
PAY STREAK ZONES
Modeled gold potential zones built from stream geochemistry, geology, and the density of historic mines, so the best ground stands out.
HISTORIC MINES & RAILROADS
Every recorded mine, prospect, and placer working nationwide, plus pre-1911 rail grades and the stops that served the camps.
GOLD TRAPS
Creek bends and steep gullies near known gold occurrences. The places moving water slows down and drops what it was carrying.
STREAMS, RIVERS & LAKES
Every waterway in the lower 48. Line weight follows actual flow, and the map tells you which run year-round and which only after rain.
HISTORIC TOPO MAPS
Scanned USGS topos from 1879 to 1940, overlaid on the modern world with an opacity slider.
HISTORIC MAP BUILDER
Over 350,000 town and city maps from the late 1800s through 1930, placed on the modern map.
GHOST TOWNS
43,000+ abandoned towns, camps, and forts. Tap one to research its history.
COIN & RELIC ID
Photograph a coin, button, buckle, or nail for an instant ID — type, mint years, material, and history.
AI TERRAIN ANALYSIS
Snap a photo of any creek or hillside and let the AI score its gold potential.
DATA LAYERS, 2D AND 3D
Each layer has its own opacity control and info button.
Native LiDAR™
Ultra 1m LiDAR
Historic Topo, 1879 to 1940
Historic Maps, 350,000+ sheets
Historic Sites — battlefields, mills, camps, towns
Historic Railroads
Historic Mines
Ghost Towns
Recent Burns, with severity
Streams & Rivers, with flow and seasonality
Lakes & Ponds
Gold Traps
Pay Streak Zones
Active Mining Claims — updated daily
Closed Mining Claims
Public Lands, with unit names and access
Designations & Wilderness
State & Local Lands
Property Lines, with owner names where available
Geochemistry
Rock Types
Mineral Deposits
Magnetic Anomaly
Modern USGS Topo
Roads & Trails
My Pins & Find Log
Basemaps: Satellite, Outdoors, Topo, and Dark.
TRACK EVERY TRIP & FIND
Record tracks colored by pace with distance, elevation gain, and finds along the way. Log finds with photos, weight, date, and notes, and drop pins for relics, coins, camps, and waypoints.
TIPS & GUIDES
Guides covering geology, equipment, technique, and history, plus prospecting news and live gold prices.
— FREE & PRO —
Free forever: the map and basemaps, 3D terrain, GPS, pins and find log, trail tracking, tips and guides, and the community feed.
Pro unlocks: every data layer above.
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