It has been a busy year! Here’s a reminder of some recently released features as well as a brief look back at some fun conferences.
Y and mitochondrial DNA in your chromosome map
You can now add Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA info to your chromosome map, including haplogroups and MitoYDNA kit IDs. Even if you don’t know your mitochondrial or Y-DNA haplogroups, you can link male and female line ancestors.
This means your chromosome map can now provide a comprehensive view of your genetic heritage.
Dots, pictures, and brick walls
Just last week, I released some new features in ancestral trees at DNA Painter:
- Add pictures to your tree and crop them for a personalized touch
- Use the dots view for a simple, compact ancestor display
- Generate a brick wall report to see which direct-line ancestors are missing parents
- You’ll also find fun existing features like the Nutrition Facts report within the new Reports menu
Shared cM tool in other languages
The Shared cM Tool now exists in Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Czech, and Slovak, making it more accessible to a wider audience.
WATO plus
There’s now an overhauled version of WATO (What Are the Odds?) called WATO plus, which is includes upgrades such as aged-based probabilities, more intuitive scores, and a structured research question.
You can upgrade your existing WATO trees to WATO Plus with just one click. I also recommend Jennifer Wiebe’s clear and concise piece on finding unknown parents with WATO Plus.
Conferences
I enjoyed meeting genealogists from around the world this year, participating in RootsTech 2024 in Salt Lake City, Advancing Genetic Genealogy at the University of Strathclyde, and OGS 2024 in Toronto, Canada.
Thank you for your support and interest. If there’s a particular topic you’d like to see covered in a future blog post, please let me know!
Contact info: @dnapainter.bsky.social / jonny@dnapainter.com