Help & User Guide

Tect O Trak is a professional metal detecting field assistant designed to help you plan, execute and permanently record every detecting session.

It keeps a precise record of every strip of ground you have covered, so you will never re-detect the same ground twice, and every find is pinned to its exact GPS location.

Version 8 introduces a completely rewritten GPS engine, tile-based track rendering for unlimited map scalability, and three precision track recording modes — GPS Mode, Bearing Mode and Fog of War.

The home screen gives you instant access to every feature of the app. The icons are arranged in a grid:

• New — create a new search area
• Settings — configure GPS, tracks and display
• ToT Central — subscriber community hub
• Sync — backup and restore all data
• Finds — browse your finds database
• Gallery — browse find photographs
• Resume Search — open a saved area in standard GPS mode
• Bearing — open a saved area in Bearing mode (subscribers)
• Fog of War — open a saved area in Fog of War mode (subscribers)

A search area is the polygon boundary of your field or permission. All tracks and finds you record are permanently stored inside it.

1. Tap New on the home screen
2. The map opens in satellite view — zoom in until you can see your field boundaries clearly
3. Tap each corner of your field to place boundary points
4. When the shape is complete, tap the tick icon in the toolbar
5. Enter a name for the area and choose a colour
6. Tap Save

The polygon colour is used for the boundary line and polygon fill on all map views. Choose a colour that stands out clearly against your satellite imagery.

GPS Mode is standard free-roam track recording — no bearing lines, no fog overlay. Simply open a saved search area, tap Start Recording and walk. Every GPS position is recorded as a dot track.

Access GPS Mode: tap Resume Search on the home screen and select your search area.

Toolbar controls:

• Satellite icon — turns green when recording is active
• Layers icon — cycle between Satellite, Hybrid and Road map
• Three-dot menu — access all recording and navigation functions

Bearing Mode is designed for systematic parallel-line grid searching. GPS is projected onto a bearing line between your start and destination points, so your recorded position can only ever move along that line. This eliminates GPS wobble and side-drift, giving you clean, accurate parallel tracks.

Setting up a run:

1. Tap the map to place the blue anchor point at your starting position
2. Long-press the map to place the destination marker — a yellow dashed bearing line appears between the two points
3. Tap Menu → Start Recording, choose your track colour, tap Start

Walking the run: your position dot moves along the bearing line as you walk. A green fill line builds behind you; the yellow ahead-line shortens as you approach the destination. An audio alert sounds on arrival.

Next parallel run: the destination automatically becomes your new anchor. Long-press to set a new destination for the next strip and repeat.

Polygon boundary enforcement: no track can be recorded outside your search area. If your bearing line extends beyond the field edge, the track stops at the boundary automatically.

Fog of War mode covers your entire search area with a semi-transparent dark fog overlay. As you walk and record, the fog is cleared away behind you — permanently revealing the ground you have covered, exactly as in a strategy game.

This gives you an immediate, intuitive visual of searched versus unsearched ground at every zoom level.

To start recording straight away: tap Menu → Start Recording, choose your track colour and tap Start. Walk freely — the fog clears as you go.

Optional guide line:

1. Tap the map — a green start marker appears
2. Long-press — a destination marker appears with a yellow dashed guide line
3. Tap Menu → Start Recording

With a guide line active, an alert sounds when you reach the destination. Both markers disappear and you return to free-roam recording automatically.

Setting a new guide line during recording: tap the map at any time to place a new start marker; long-press to set a new destination. Recording continues uninterrupted.

All recorded tracks use a tile-based renderer that handles unlimited numbers of tracks without performance loss.

• Track style (Settings): Dashes — recommended default  |  Dots — dense coverage  |  Line — solid
• Track size: use the size slider in Settings. 50% is a good starting point for full-field overview.
• Track colour: each recording session uses the colour you selected at the start. Colours are permanent — a track always displays in the colour it was created in.
• Drop shadow: tracks have a subtle dark border that lifts them off the map at all zoom levels.

You can record a find at any time — during a session or when the map is open.

1. Tap Menu → Record a Find
2. Choose Automatic (uses your current GPS position) or Manual (tap the map to place the marker yourself)
3. Fill in the find details: Name, Description, Material, Category, Period, Condition, Depth, PAS Reference, Notes
4. Choose whether to attach a photo (from camera or gallery)
5. Confirm — a gold star marker appears on the map at the find location

Tap the Finds icon to open your complete finds database.

• Sort — by date, name, material, period or category
• Group — group finds by material, category or search area
• Export — share finds data as a CSV file or PDF report, including GPS coordinates, all metadata and photographs

Finds are permanently associated with the search area they were recorded in. Tap any find to see full details including photograph. To edit a find later, tap the pencil icon in the top right of its detail view.

Tap the Gallery icon to browse all photographs attached to your finds.

• Photos are displayed as a scrollable grid
• Tap any photo to view full-screen — swipe left/right to move between photos
• The find name and location are shown below each full-screen image

The Gallery is a standalone curated space for your cleaned and presented finds. Photos are stored in ToTai/Finds/ and can be copied to a PC via USB.

Tap Sync on the home screen to protect your data.

Creating a backup: tap Backup Now. You will be asked to choose a folder on your device. The app creates a ToTai/ folder structure there containing your database and all find images. Copy this folder to a PC or cloud storage for safekeeping.

Restoring a backup: tap Restore, point the app at your ToTai/ backup folder and confirm. All current data is replaced with the backup contents.

Legacy database import (V7 and earlier):

1. Open the app and tap Backup once — this creates the ToTai/ folder structure in your chosen location
2. Open the ToTai/ folder — you will see subfolders: Finds/, Gallery/, Export/, etc.
3. Copy your legacy image files into Finds/
4. Place your legacy application-database.sqlite in the ToTai/ root folder
5. Tap Restore — you will find everything just as you left it

Tap the Settings icon on the home screen to configure the app.

• Track Style — Dashes, Dots or Line
• Track Size — slider from fine to bold. 50% is the recommended default.
• GPS Filter Control Panel:
  • Kalman Filter — smooths GPS readings. Leave off unless you experience extreme GPS jumping.
  • GPS Update Speed — Fast / Medium / Slow. Fast gives the highest track resolution.
• Compass Calibration — corrects for local magnetic declination. If Bearing mode lines are consistently off to one side, recalibrate here.
• Coordinate Format — Decimal Degrees, Degrees-Minutes-Seconds or OS Grid Reference.
• Lost GPS signal alert (Experimental) — on by default. See the GPS Signal Alert section for full details.

All map views share the same controls:

• Zoom — pinch-to-zoom or on-screen +/− buttons
• Map type — tap the layers icon to cycle: Satellite → Hybrid → Road
• Compass — shown in the map corner. Tap to snap back to north-up.
• My location dot colour:
  • Green — excellent accuracy (under 5 m)
  • Amber — moderate (5–15 m)
  • Red — poor (over 15 m or no fix)
• Pathfinder — long-press the map to drop a target marker. A compass needle radiates from your position and turns red when you are pointing directly at the target.

Modern smartphone GPS typically provides 3–8 metre accuracy in open fields.

• Bearing Mode — GPS is projected onto the bearing line, so lateral drift is completely eliminated. Forward accuracy along the line is excellent.
• Fog of War / GPS Mode — free-roam recording uses raw GPS coordinates. Accuracy of 3–8 metres is typical in open fields.

Tips for best GPS accuracy:

• Allow 30–60 seconds for GPS to stabilise after opening the map
• Keep the phone relatively still while placing markers
• Avoid working directly under heavy tree canopy
• The green accuracy dot confirms a strong signal before recording

Tect O Trak monitors your GPS signal whenever track recording is active. If no new track points are recorded for 60 seconds — even though recording is switched on — the app will sound a triple alert tone and show an on-screen warning. This guards against the frustrating situation of walking a long leg only to discover the GPS dropped out silently.

Confirmation beep
A single beep sounds the moment your first GPS point of a new session is successfully captured. This is your audible green light — you can safely put the phone in your pocket and start detecting.

Enabling / disabling
Go to Settings and tick or untick "Lost GPS signal alert (Experimental)". It defaults to On. It is marked Experimental because GPS behaviour varies across Android devices and versions — if your handset fires false alerts, simply turn the setting off.

Before you start:

• Wait for the position dot to turn green before placing your start marker
• Zoom into the satellite image to position markers accurately
• Check your existing track coverage before deciding where to start

During a session:

• Walk at a steady, consistent pace
• In Bearing Mode: walk in a straight line — the app handles GPS drift
• In Fog of War mode: the phone can stay in your pocket the entire time
• Record finds the moment you detect them — GPS is most accurate when you are stationary

After a session:

• Review the map to check track coverage
• Export finds if you are recording for PAS or your own archive
• Back up your data