Let the crops show what's below.

NDVI vegetation imagery reveals crop-marks — buried ditches, pits and walls that stress the plants growing above them — processed and mapped exclusively in Detector Maps, alongside historic aerial studies.

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What it is

The buried, written in the crop

Buried features change how crops grow above them — a signal called a crop-mark. Detector Maps processes satellite NDVI imagery into a coloured layer that brings those marks out, exclusively in-app, so you can read what's under the surface.

What the layer shows you

Four ways detectorists put it to work

See the crop-marks

Buried ditches and walls stress the crop above them.

Exclusive processing

NDVI rendered for archaeology only in Detector Maps.

Pair with airborne studies

Historic aerial surveys back up what NDVI shows.

Confirm a target

Cross-check a crop-mark with finds and old maps.

In the app

Read the buried ground

NDVI coloured

Vegetation index, coloured.

DM-exclusive NDVI

Processed for archaeology.

Historic airborne

Aerial survey studies.

FAQ

NDVI questions, straight answers.

What is NDVI?

Normalised Difference Vegetation Index — a measure of plant health from satellite imagery. Buried features stress the crops above them, producing crop-marks that NDVI can reveal.

Why is it exclusive?

Detector Maps processes NDVI specifically for reading crop-marks and presents it as a ready-to-use layer — you won’t find it packaged this way elsewhere.

When does it work best?

Crop-marks show most strongly in dry conditions and particular crops and seasons — use it as one read among several.

Does it find treasure?

No — it highlights possible buried features for research. What you do next still needs permission and groundwork.

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