23andMe’s New Look at Ancestry

Over the last week 23andMe customers got a different view of their ancestry.

Since we launched our new Ancestry Overview, customers now get a quick and comprehensive summary of what their DNA tells them about themselves and their ancestors.

This new dashboard summary gives you a quick outline of where your ancestors likely came from, the number of relatives you’re matched with in our database and how closely they’re related to you, as well as other hard to find ancestry gems like our Neanderthal Lab or the just added feature that tracks the top surnames for your Relative Finder matches.

These changes help you dig deeper into your ancestry by giving you more tools and making the ones we already have easier to use.

For example, our very popular Relative Finder tool now includes a turbo-charged upgrade that displays your matches on a world map.

It’s not just a cool visualization; it’s also incredibly helpful for anyone on a genealogical hunt for ancestors. It can help you focus your search and triangulate between multiple sources of information by showing where in the world your relatives cluster.

You can also filter the results by how closely related to you the matches are. Beyond that it’s just a great way of telling you more about your family history, where you and your family are from and the places where your connections remain.

Another new feature we’ve added, but are still testing, is a Family Tree. The Family Tree is easy to share with others and offers customers a way to track a lot of family facts beyond just dates, such as major life events, occupation and health information.

Because it’s sharable you don’t have to just rely on your work, but can pool the collective wisdom of your family members to fill in blanks in your tree.

Customers who’ve already done the work of creating a family tree elsewhere can import their GEDCOM data into 23andMe’s Family Tool. There is more to come. A few of our scientists are putting the final touches on a new Ancestry Painting analysis, which we believe will provide the most accurate breakdown of your genetic ancestry now being offered anywhere.

Our new Ancestry Painting will soon draw from approximately 20 different world regions, creating much finer detail of your genetic ancestry and a break down of European ancestry as well as a clear differentiation between Native American and Asian ancestry. We’ll keep you posted on when this new tool is ready.