23 February 2012

Ancestry.com's New DNA Test

     A while back, Ancestry.com sent out free DNA tests to a number of people and then had an early purchase offer for others. I wasn't invited to either offer, so I'm not up on all the details. It does appear that this is an autosomal test, like Family Tree DNA's Family Finder and 23andMe's Relative Finder.

     Today, Ancestry.com offered a public hint of their new test. Here's what appears on their DNA page:


     I signed up for notification, but I've already learned a lot from this graphic.

  1. Yes, this is an autosomal DNA test.
  2. As indicated by the pie chart and map, there will be some sort of "population finder" or "ancestry painting" option. This is where your DNA is broken down into populations such as European, Asian or African. I wonder how many populations they test against?
  3. They will be predicting cousins just like the other tests. The example you can kinda see is of a predicted 3rd-5th cousin. You can see his name and how long he's been an member (ancestry.com/DNA test?). Also, the match is predicted with "99.98% confidence." You have the option to further review the match, which I assume contains some way to contact them.
  4. You will be able to sort your matches.
  5. This example shows "1-50 of 362" matches. They apparently anticipate a large database - I wonder how many tests they'll have in the system when it opens to the public?
  6. There's also another portion of the screen that reads "Your Family Tree Progress." Will you be able to integrate your matches into your tree? 
     Unless they have a really low price or a special offer, I won't be jumping on this right away. I'm invested in ftDNA and 23andMe right now. I am interested in learning more about their test though.

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