The app for metal detecting and local history
From an old map to a find in your album — one journey, one app.
Maps over satelliteFields from orbitAI from a photo
FreeAndroid 7+6 languagesNo subscription
Maps and notes work offline. AI and new images need a connection.
A meadow, a road, a village you know. Find the sheet in “Archive of this area”, lay the old map over the satellite and slide the opacity — no need to know the sheet number or hunt for it across a dozen tabs.
The archive covers Eastern Europe in the most detail. Elsewhere, you can bring your own maps.
In the Academy Old maps on your phone How to read an old map An old map over the satellite view
Archive maps partner
Archive sheets from the leading map portal are built into the app. Find the sheet you need, add it to your field set and keep going without jumping between services.
Open Etomesto Maps provided free of charge
Etomesto sheets, NARA aerial photos and community maps — Belarus, Russia, Ukraine.
Aerial archive · Luftwaffe / NARA
German Air Force reconnaissance photos from 1939–1945. Most are already partly georeferenced: all that’s left is to refine the anchor points on the satellite, right on your phone.
1941 · Smolensk
1943 · Minsk
1944 · Brest District
1944 · Grodno DistrictSource: U.S. National Archives (NARA). These are reduced previews; the full photos open in the app and in the Discovera Maps catalogue.
Don’t waste a weekend scouting blind. Check the field before you set off: is it harvested, is it ploughed, what’s the weather doing.
Sentinel-2 images show where the crop is still standing, where there’s stubble and where it’s ploughed. Leave a field on watch and the app will let you know when it’s harvested or ploughed.
New images depend on satellite passes and cloud cover. They show the state of the field, not people or finds.
Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026.
In the Academy Search tactics Relief and water on old maps
Get your maps ready in advance. Out in the field, the app keeps what matters — where you went and what you found.
In the Academy Introduction to metal detecting Safety and ethics Metal detectors and the law
A photo, a place and your first notes are just the start. Then you can study the details, ask Ivanych and turn to a human expert.
Original
Tap it and the medallion appears as it might once have looked.
Photo, place, detector, VDI and depth. Dictate a note and AI helps fill in the card when you’re online. No time? Leave a draft in your Backpack.
AI suggests a likely period, material and historical context. Ivanych helps with your questions. For an important find, there’s a human expert.
The find stays linked to its place, its photos and your gear. Its story lives in the card, not scattered across chats.
AI gives a hint, not a verdict. The cost of a paid action is shown before you run it.
In the Academy AI in detecting: case studies From signal to find The first 24 hours after a find Restoration principles
AI mentor for metal detecting
He’ll tell you which detector and coil to take, how to read a signal and where it’s worth going back. Ask by voice instead of typing with gloves on.
Ivanych is an AI: he gives hints, not verdicts on a find. For anything important, there’s a human expert.
Ivan IvanychKeeper of Discovera
Does the SC24 coil fit the Nokta Legend?
No, it won’t. The SC24 coil is made for the Simplex series.
The Nokta The Legend has its own multi-frequency (SMF) electronics, and its coils carry their own marking — LG. It’s like bolting a carburettor from an old Lada onto a fuel-injected engine: wrong connector, and it won’t run anyway.
For the Legend, look for LG coils: LG24 (9.5″×6″) — for trashy sites, old foundations and woodland; it separates targets well.
Every find is part of a bigger story. The Museum shows what you’ve already collected and what’s still missing.
Pick an era and build your history album by album. An empty slot can become the goal of your next outing.
Your spots stay under your control. Exact, area or hidden — you choose before publishing. Personal markers never go public automatically.
In the Academy The find record Choosing a detector 2025–2026 Basic detector settings
Plan an outing, drop a point onto a comrade’s map and keep a shared report.
Loading a post from Discovera…
A public post from the app. Find coordinates are never shown here.
Articles on old maps, detectors, the law and finds — plus tools for working with maps on a big screen.
29articles
Old maps and map symbols, choosing and setting up a detector, the law, restoration and the first 24 hours after a find. In English and Russian.
All Academy articles
Over 42,000 Luftwaffe photos from 1939–1945, searchable by region, district and town — in Russian or Latin script.
Georeference a scan by control points and extract previews from .sqlitedb — free, right in your browser.
Finds, digs and app updates — with photos, likes and comments.
The core tools are free. Coins pay for AI and certain actions. You see the price before you run anything.
Maps and the archive, tracks and markers, the finds catalogue, the Museum, the feed and chat.
AI analysis and restoration, certain satellite actions, georeferencing beyond the free allowance, and starting a clan.
Current prices and limits are in the app. Coin pack prices depend on your Google Play country.
Etomesto, NARA, Copernicus Sentinel-2, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata. NARA photos are free in the archive’s own catalogue; our tools help you find and prepare them.
Academy authors and expertsFollow your country’s laws, get the landowner’s permission and check whether the land is protected. Discovera is not meant for searching archaeological sites.
Metal detectors and the lawChoose how precise the location is and what you’re ready to share. Drafts and personal markers stay in your own working set.
Privacy policyA quick guide to how it all works and where to start.
Write to the teamIt depends on what you need. To simply look at an old map, any viewer will do; to keep a collection, you need a catalogue. Discovera is built for the case where you need all of it at once, right out in the field: the old map settles over the satellite, the areas you need are downloaded in advance, a find is saved with its photo and its place, and AI helps you make sense of it.
Maps and satellite areas downloaded in advance, your track, markers, notes and find drafts. Online actions go through once you reconnect. AI and loading new satellite images need a connection.
Start with the law: where you may search and where you may not is cheaper to learn at home than in a field. Then decide why you are doing this — walking your own area, looking for a vanished village, or building a collection. Buy a mid-range detector rather than a flagship on credit; for a first season, headphones and patience matter more. Prepare the map in advance, at home, and write the find up the same day, while you still remember where it lay and how deep.
VDI is a hint, not a passport. Learn tone and repeatability first, then fine discrimination. In Discovera, your detector and its settings are saved in the Arsenal, and the find card remembers what you dug it up with.
Check the archive on this page or open “Archive of this area” in the app. Coverage is densest in Eastern Europe. If the map you need isn’t there, you can request it or georeference your own scan.
Yes. SQLite, MBTiles and OziExplorer are supported. You can georeference a scan or a photo of a sheet by control points right on your phone; for preparing maps on a computer, there are web tools.
Markers: KML import and export. Tracks: GPX export, GPX and KML import.
Trace the field and leave it on watch. Discovera analyses Sentinel-2 images and reports changes: where the crop is still standing, where there’s stubble and where it’s ploughed. Freshness depends on satellite passes and cloud cover — this is not real-time monitoring.
It’s a suggestion of how the object may have looked, not proof of its original state. AI analysis can be wrong too. For important questions, you can turn to a human expert.
Before publishing, you choose: the exact spot, the general area, or hidden coordinates. Personal markers and drafts never go to the public layer automatically.
Not yet. Discovera is available for Android 7.0 and later. On devices without Google services, some online features may be limited.
Six: English, Russian, German, Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian.
The basics are free, and there’s no subscription. Coins are used for AI and certain actions. Before you run one, the app shows the price and the free allowance you have left; coin pack prices are listed in Google Play.
Every signal is the start of a story.
Start with a place you know. You may never have seen it like this.
FreeAndroid 7+6 languagesNo subscription
Install the app and sign in with Google or email.
Pick an old map and move the opacity slider.
Check the nearest field or photograph an old object for analysis.
Google Play
