New features coming soon to AncestryDNA

 

AncestryDNA Regions map.

After catching up on Rootstech 2024 sessions, YouTube recommended some other videos on genealogy and DNA. On 2 April 2024, Ancestry's Crista Cowan delivered a webinar for the National Genealogical Society titled the Power of AncestryDNA. This webinar contained some previews on new features expected to be released in the near future for users of AncestryDNA. In addition to new communities and regions that are added on a regular basis (see the map above), Ancestry will be rolling out a new look & feel for Shared Matches, and will be adding the ability to sort by those matches who match your DNA communities.

I'm really excited about these changes, as this should be a huge help to identifying connections on branches of my tree where I have gaps. For example, in the screenshot below from my Mom's results, the matches from communities only shows the first three matches, and all of these are people in my immediate family (including myself and my sister). As described by Crista in the webinar, the update will allow you to sort through the matches in your DNA communities, and create smaller groups.

This is also a good reminder to check regularly for updates to DNA communities. The screenshot below shows the DNA communities by parent map for my Aunt Patty's results. I am incredibly grateful that both my Dad and my Mom, along with her two sisters tested their DNA on Ancestry and I have access to their results. The updates for these tools will be super useful once released on the Ancestry site.

AncestryDNA communities map for my Aunt Patty.