Publishing find spots as a third party

Since 1998, the Scheme has published records of objects and their find spots online. This has presented a variety of problems, with find spot security being the most problematic. These data are governed by an agreement formulated between our biggest contributing group (metal detectorists) and stake holders in the project. 

When researchers sign up for access to the Scheme database, they are furnished with guidelines about use of these data and how they can be re-published elsewhere. The basic conditions are:

1. Find spots must not be published to a greater resolution of 1km square or a 4 figure grid reference
2. If a find spot's security is imperative to the land owner or the finder (or indeed both), a pseudonym is provided by the 'to be known as' field. If this is completed, the find spot cannot be published on or offline without prior discussions with the recording Finds Liaison Officer.

When one downloads data in CSV, the fields you will be furnished with as a researcher for spatial data are:

• Grid reference
• Four figure grid reference
• Easting and Northing
• Latitude and Longitude
• Where on Earth ID from Yahoo!
• Region
• County
• District
• Parish
• Known as

Therefore, researchers are furnished with all the information that is needed for GIS studies and four figure grid reference for publications. If you want to produce GIS plots using known as pseudonym find spots, again speak to either the Central Unit or the recording FLO.