Terms of Use & Safety

Terrain accuracy

Lodeline shows terrain derived from USGS 3DEP LiDAR and public imagery. This data may be inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date, and coverage is limited to the United States. Do not rely on Lodeline for navigation, emergencies, or safety-of-life decisions. Always carry proper maps and equipment.

Know before you dig

You are solely responsible for knowing and obeying all laws, rules, and landowner permissions before prospecting, metal detecting, digging, or removing any material. Many areas - national and state parks, public lands, mining claims, private property, and tribal or protected lands - restrict or prohibit these activities, and penalties can be severe. When in doubt, get written permission and the proper permits.

No rights granted

Lodeline does not grant any right to enter land or to extract minerals, artifacts, or other materials. Showing a location in the app does not mean access is legal.

Use at your own risk

Lodeline is provided as is, without warranty of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the developer is not liable for any loss, injury, fine, or damage arising from use of the app or reliance on its data.

Respect the land

Fill your holes, pack out your trash, and leave no trace.

The favorability score - how it works and what it isn't

Lodeline computes favorability on your device and shows it as a two-axis read: Gold country (regional geology and historical gold-occurrence density from public records) and Spot (terrain traps at your exact point from USGS 3DEP bare-earth elevation - drainage, slope, benches, and low-lying collector positions). Placer and lode modes tune which signals matter most. The combined 0-100 index is a heuristic for how much the land resembles classic gold-bearing ground - nothing more.

It does not detect gold or any mineral, does not use geochemistry or proprietary ore models, and makes no prediction or guarantee that gold is or is not present at any location. Historical mineral records (MRDS / USMIN) are occurrences on file - not active claims and not proof of gold. Catch-finder and ground-disturbance tools are separate observations; their scores are never merged into favorability.

The weighting is an initial heuristic chosen from placer- and lode-geology literature and is subject to revision; it is not empirically validated. The score is provided for educational and exploratory purposes only and is not professional geological, legal, or safety advice. You are responsible for verifying land status and obeying all applicable laws.

Data & attribution

Terrain, imagery, hydrography, land cover, and mineral records come from the U.S. Geological Survey (3DEP / The National Map, MRDS, USMIN, NHD, NLCD, NAIP) and the BLM - public domain, courtesy of these agencies. Bedrock geology is from Macrostrat, licensed CC BY 4.0. Lodeline is independent and not endorsed by or affiliated with the USGS, BLM, or Macrostrat.