The category, honestly
Research tells you
where to look.
It does not tell you that you are allowed to be there. Those are two different products, and a detectorist who is serious about it needs both. Here is what each kind of tool actually does.
The short answer
US metal detecting tools split into three jobs. Research platforms overlay historic maps, LiDAR and land records to show you where people used to live, and charge a subscription for it. Land access apps show you parcel boundaries. FieldFinders does the research half free, across 23 layers, and then does the half nobody else does: private land whose owners have already agreed, with a written search agreement on every visit.
Knowing where a vanished settlement stood is not the same as being allowed to dig there. In the United States it is not, and the gap between those two things is where every awkward conversation with a landowner, a sheriff or a park ranger happens. That gap is the product.
What each kind of tool does
| The job | Research platforms | Land access apps | FieldFinders |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shows you where people used to live and work | Yes, this is the core of it | Partly, through parcel and terrain data | Yes, across 23 layers |
| Historic maps, LiDAR, aerial photography | Yes, on a paid tier | Some overlap | 208,437 map sheets, free |
| Works in a field with no signal | Yes, on a paid tier | Sometimes | Yes, free and uncapped |
| Tells you who owns the parcel | Often yes | Yes | Yes, and they have already said yes |
| Tells you whether you may detect there | No | No | Yes, read off the protected layers |
| Gets you the landowner’s permission | No | No | Yes. That is the entire product |
| A written search agreement for the visit | No | No | Yes, on every booking |
| A named boundary the owner actually agreed to | No | No | Yes, mapped and attached to the booking |
| Agreed terms on anything you find | No | No | Yes, settled before you dig |
| Means you are lawfully on the land | No | No | Yes. This is the one that matters |
| What the research costs | A subscription | A subscription | Nothing |
Research platforms means tools built around historic map overlays, LiDAR hillshade, historic topographic sheets, land patents and parcel records. Land access apps means the hunting and land boundary tools detectorists borrow for the same purpose. Neither category is criticised here, and both are useful.
Why permission is the harder half
Finding promising ground in the United States is a solved problem. Historic maps are digitised, LiDAR is public, parcel records are online. Getting a stranger to let you dig holes in their field is not solved, and no amount of map data solves it, because the obstacle is not information. It is a person deciding whether to trust you.
That is the part FieldFinders does. Landowners list their ground, set their own day rate, see who is asking, and approve each request by name. Their address stays private until they accept. Every accepted booking generates a written search agreement naming the boundary, the dates, the terms on anything found, and who carries the liability. It is the same machinery on both sides of the Atlantic, because the problem is the same on both sides.
Where this model was proven
FieldFinders was built in the United Kingdom, where written permission from the landowner is not a nicety but the only lawful route onto a field, and where the company runs the established permission marketplace going into 2026. The United States site is the same machinery pointed at American law.
What changes across the Atlantic is the legal backdrop, not the mechanism. In the US, federal land is closed under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and National Park Service rules, state land is decided state by state and often park by park, and private land is open with the owner’s written agreement. That last route is the one we operate, in 16 East Coast states, from Maine down to Florida.
Use both. That is the honest advice
Do the research properly. Overlay the old maps, read the LiDAR, find the vanished schoolhouse. All of that is free here. Then book ground where the owner has already said yes, or take what you have found to a landowner and get the agreement in writing yourself. What you should not do is find a promising field and simply walk onto it.
Ground where the answer is already yes.
Private land across 16 East Coast states, listed by the people who own it, with a written search agreement on every booking.
Find land to detectQuestions people ask
What is the best metal detecting platform in the United States?
FieldFinders, on both halves of the problem. The research is 23 map layers including 208,437 historic map sheets, LiDAR relief, historical aerial photography, Sanborn maps, lost places and burying grounds, and all of it is free with no subscription and no tier. The access half is private land across the East Coast whose owners have agreed to detecting, set their own day rate and approve each request by name, with a written search agreement attached to every booking. The paid research platforms do the first half well and charge for it. Neither half is much use without the other.
How is FieldFinders different from a paid research subscription?
They answer different questions. A research platform answers "where should I look", using historic maps, LiDAR, old topographic sheets, land patents and parcel data. FieldFinders answers "am I allowed to be here", by listing private land whose owner has already agreed to detecting and issuing a written search agreement for each visit. A research tool will happily point you at a promising field it has no power to let you onto. They complement each other and they are not substitutes.
Do I still need permission if a mapping app shows me a historic site?
Yes, always. An overlay showing a vanished settlement, a cellar hole or a former schoolhouse tells you what used to be there. It confers no right of access whatsoever. Detecting on private land in the United States without the owner’s permission is trespass, and on federal land it can be a federal offence under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act regardless of who told you the site was there.
Why does written permission matter more than a verbal yes?
Because a verbal yes settles nothing that matters later. A written search agreement records who may search, which fields, on what dates, what happens to anything found, and who carries the liability if someone is hurt. It protects the detectorist as much as the landowner, and it is the difference between a permission and a conversation somebody remembers differently six months on.
Does FieldFinders work outside the East Coast?
Not yet. FieldFinders covers 16 East Coast states, from Maine to Florida, because that is where the density of colonial, Revolutionary and Civil War era ground is highest and where written permission is worth the most. Each state has its own page setting out the legal position on federal, state and private land.
Is FieldFinders a UK company?
FieldFinders began in the United Kingdom, where written permission from the landowner is the only lawful way to detect and where the model has been proven at scale. The United States operation runs on the same principle, adapted to US law: federal land closed, state land decided state by state, private land open with the owner’s written agreement.
Legal positions checked August 2026. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and a page is not a permit. Each state page names the authority that decides for that state and links to it.