Sondengänger (detectorist) App

The Sondengänger app is a central infrastructure being developed by various institutions involved in NFDI4Objects to support cooperation between heritage authorities and volunteers. It is already common practice for private individuals to obtain official permission to go exploring. The archaeological objects found must be reported to the relevant authorities or agencies, stating the dates and location of the find. To date, this reporting has largely been done by analog means, which means that post-processing within the institutions responsible for the preservation of historical monuments is time-consuming and requires a lot of personnel. Likewise, a certain degree of inaccuracy in the details of the sites cannot be ruled out. This in turn makes it more difficult to identify archaeologically interesting sites.

It is planned that the app to be developed will support the explorers themselves by making it possible to trace the route they have taken using GNSS technology, classifying the location of features by means of photo documentation and facilitating the creation of comparable, descriptive object data by lay researchers by means of integrated mandatory fields. For the heritage authorities, the recording of small finds in the specialist information systems is made easier. Data generated by the explorers is transferred directly for checking via standardized interfaces. Manual recording is no longer necessary. Through further enrichment with metadata, the finds are also made available to the scientific community and can be used sustainably.