New to Genetic Ancestry? Join our Genetic Ancestry Program.
Why would one want to use Gedmatch? One of our goals at Giants of the Earth Heritage Center is to help people discover their ancestors. To facilitate accurate discovery, we often document our trees using census and other public records and genetic ancestry testing. The power of the genetic ancestry testing arises primarily through comparison with others who are relatives, even very distant relatives, of which every person has millions.
If only one person in the world were tested, we would learn almost nothing from the information. However, as more and more people enter the DNA database, the results become ever more meaningful. For example, someone descended from many different nationalities, such as myself, can learn what those nationalities are ever more accurately as the database of people of different nationalities, some of which have similar or identical genetic stretches, increases. We primarily assist people in interpreting their results from three different companies: 23andme.com, Ancestry.com (AncestryDNA), and Family Tree DNA (FTDNA). To get into each company’s database, you generally have to pay to take their test.
There is a free service, however, if you visit Gedmatch.com. This free service allows a person who has performed a test with one of the above companies to compare his or her results with people who have taken their test with one of the other two companies. Because this service effectively increases the size of the pool of people you can compare your results with, it is a win-win situation for users.
Thus, we encourage all our members and also all non-members to upload their genetic test raw data directly to Gedmatch.com.
