Geez you've got a lot of fight for someone who does "not know Signal maps"! I would have though you'd at least know what you're debating first but as i said, each to their own.
Anyway I believe what i was told - that the diggings have been completely remapped by the Signal guys and what is publicly available through GeoVic/GSV is way behind the game. I've used both. There is simply no debate as to which is more accurate. Shafts and deep lead mining are essentially useless to the amateur prospector which is no doubt why they've been omitted. It certainly makes for a clearer map to read and navigate by which is why i use them and why i'm finding areas that (yet again) are NOT available through GeoVic, so perhaps they're pumping the millions of dollars into something else? I like the fact that public/private land is easily distinguishable on the Signal maps. Also puddlers are a
huge bonus to an amateur prospector because they indicate regions where the gold was trapped in clay and was difficult to wash, so the chances of finding a piece or two around those particular gullies is probably pretty high. All that said you raise some interesting points and clearly know a lot about this topic, but for that reason I think it's pretty unfair to compare a Signal sample at 1:25,000 to a one off GeoVic map at 1:10,000, especially considering the rest of the state is at 1:50,000 as are all of the other published GeoVic samples you provided. Now if you'd excuse me i'm looking for a lighter chat so might excuse myself from this topic - i'm only new here! Cheers