Using GEDmatch (The Triangulation Tool)

The previous article in this series is Using Genome Mate (Add confirmed segments to chromosome map).

As explained in my earlier post, Using Genome Mate (Identify triangulated groups and confirm segments), we now have an understanding of the basic principals of triangulating DNA segments, and know how to manually go through our match data and identify triangulated groups. In this post, I will show how to use the GEDmatch Triangulation tool to automatically identify the triangulated segments you share with your 400 closest matches at GEDmatch and then easily import the triangulated segment results from GEDmatch into Genome Mate.

Using Genome Mate (Add confirmed segments to chromosome map)

The previous article in this series is Using Genome Mate (Identify triangulated groups and confirm segments).

In following the steps that have been previously outlined, we now know how to identify triangulated groups and confirm the segments within a triangulated group. This post will show the steps to add these triangulated segments to our chromosome map.

Using Genome Mate (Identify triangulated groups and confirm segments)

The previous article in this series is Using Genome Mate (Importing/Updating the email addresses of your matches from GEDmatch).

In following the steps that have been previously outlined, we now have imported a sizable amount of data from GEDmatch into Genome Mate. This post will show how to begin working with this data to identify groups of triangulated segments. The process of identifying triangulated groups can be very time consuming, and like genealogy itself, is something that is never ending. The concepts of identifying triangulated groups are fairly simple to grasp, but there is no shortcut to taking the necessary time to work through and analyze your DNA data. As one leading genetic genealogist, Dr. Blaine Bettinger (http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com), summed it up so accurately, “Finding genetic matches is easy, but finding the common ancestor from whom we inherited a segment [of] DNA is very hard.”

Using Genome Mate (Importing/Updating the email addresses of your matches from GEDmatch)

The steps we have used to import GEDmatch segment data into Genome Mate have not imported the email addresses of our matches from GEDmatch. Importing these email addresses is done as a separate import. This post will show the email address import process, step by step. It’s also a good idea to use this same import process from time to time to update the email addresses of your imported matches in Genome Mate, in case someone has changed the email address associated with their kit at GEDmatch.

Steps to DNA Matching and Chromosome Mapping with GEDmatch and Genome Mate

For awhile now, I’ve planned to write a summary of the steps to using GEDmatch and Genome Mate for chromosome mapping. Based on some great feedback and suggestions from Roberta, one of my blog readers, I’m going to go ahead and post this summary now, instead of waiting until I have completed the step by step guides for the entire process. My hope is this will help people to begin making the most efficient use of their DNA data right away, as well as letting people know what topics I will be covering next in the process. As I continue to add the rest of the step by step guides, I will update this post by adding the links to the new guides after I have completed writing them. In addition, I hope to keep evolving this post by incorporating new methods and tools that may become available for working with one’s genealogical DNA data.

Using Genome Mate Part 3 (Importing GEDmatch Chromosome Browser Data)

The previous article in this series is Using Genome Mate Part 2 (Importing GEDmatch One To One Comparison Data).

Thanks to some great programming work by Becky Walker, the developer of Genome Mate, there is a new option for importing lots of match data at a time into Genome Mate, using Sue Griffith’s method of an alternate to the GEDmatch triangulation tool for locating shared segments with other testers (as also shown step by step in my last blog post). In this blog post, I will walk through the new Genome Mate import process step by step.

Adding A GEDCOM File To Genome Mate

The previous article in this series is Downloading A GEDCOM File From An Ancestry Member Tree.

Now that you’ve successfully downloaded the GEDCOM file containing the ancestors of the test taker, this file needs to be imported to Genome Mate so that we can begin to make use of some of the advanced tools in Genome Mate. This post will show how to import a GEDCOM file to Genome Mate in simple, easy to follow, steps.

Downloading A GEDCOM File From An Ancestry Member Tree

The previous article in this series is Introduction To Genome Mate.

Some of the most useful features of Genome Mate require a GEDCOM file of the ancestors of the person who took the DNA test. In preparation for learning to use these features, we need to get a GEDCOM file of the test taker’s ancestors imported into Genome Mate. In this post, I will show how to generate a GEDCOM file from an Ancestry.com Member Tree, since I’ve found many people don’t seem to be aware this feature exists.

GEDmatch and GenomeMate Resources

I’ve read that it’s estimated 80% of genealogy is repetition. Repeating the same research someone else has done, repeating our own searches over again, and reviewing the same sources that others have already gone through, for example. I have little doubt this estimate is likely to be quite realistic. I’m certainly guilty of this repetition just as much as anybody. This repetitiveness also exists with genealogy blogs.

Using GEDmatch Part 3 (The People Who Match One Or Both Of 2 Kits Tool)

The previous article in this series is Introduction To Using GEDmatch Part 2 (The One-To-Many Comparison Tool).

It’s taken me awhile to post another article in this series because I was hoping the Triangulation tool would be reinstated by now. Since it has not, let’s explore the People who match one or both of 2 kits tool that has recently been reinstated. For each of the matches we get to our kit using the ‘One-to-many’ matches tool, it is very helpful to know who else happens to match both of our DNA tests. This can help us begin to identify shared segments between at least three people, forming the basis for properly triangulating the segment back to a common ancestor, or set of ancestors.