The original core of the Delta Survey information was collected by Jeffrey Spencer over many years, later supplemented with contributions from others, acknowledged below. Research on the Delta was promoted by the call for action by the Congress of Egyptology in 1979, where the risks to the archaeology of the region were noted. The Delta was the focus of the earliest work of the Egypt Exploration Fund, so it is fitting that it should return there. The sources for the survey began with maps, including the early Arab map of Al-Maqrizi, those published by the Déscription de L'Egypte and numerous editions of maps produced at various scales by the Egyptian Government Survey of Egypt. New maps of the Delta were produced by the Egyptian Government Survey Authority in 1996 at a scale of 1:50,000, although the actual surveying was done in 1992-3. They have value in showing the changes brought about through development, particularly many new asphalt roads, although these maps are also now well out of date. Sites are indicated as white areas, but not named so consistently as on older Survey of Egypt maps. After study of the maps, the bibliography of Delta sites was researched for all relevant information, noting particularly the reports on inspections of sites for the Service des Antiquités by Foucart, Daressy and Edgar.

Since the EES survey was initiated, the Egyptian Government established the Egyptian Antiquities Information System (EAIS) for site documentation. At present, their data is focused on site locations and property boundaries, but archaeological information is being added. The EES survey has shared its data with the EAIS. The first major publication of the EAIS, edited by Neguib Amin, The Historical Sites of Egypt, Volume 1, Ash-Sharqiyyah Governorate, appeared in 2006. The SCA has also produced through CultNat a set of four colour brochures for the Delta with site reference numbers and rough maps.

All the data collected from published sources has been supplemented by fieldwork, ranging from visits to record the present condition and character of sites in the region to full mapping surveys or geophysical investigation. On the basis of these, a few sites were chosen for limited excavation. The increasing availability of high-resolution satellite photography has provided another valuable tool, easily accessible through Google Earth©. The addition of an option to view not only the most recent images but also historic ones is most valuable for the Survey, allowing the changing condition (usually progressive disappearance) of archaeological sites to be monitored. Another valuable resource for information on the former condition of sites is the imagery from the U.S CORONA programme of the 1960s, now owned by the U.S. Geological Survey and made available by the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies, University of Arkansas, in the Corona Atlas of the Middle East.