Geni.com adds DNA to World Family Tree

Geni.com is an integrated, wiki-based online family tree. In a recent announcement, Geni.com has entereded into a partnership with FamilyTreeDNA.com to integrate DNA test results into the Geni's World Family Tree.

Quoting from their press release:

As of today, Geni supports three major DNA technologies to enhance the World Family Tree - Y-DNA, mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA. Users can now link their Family Tree DNA account to Geni and have their DNA test results transferred accurately to their Geni profile with a single click. 

Now you can confirm your relationship to individuals in your direct paternal line (Y-DNA), direct maternal line (mtDNA) and relatives across all lines via autosomal DNA. You can also discover new relatives via DNA matching. Read more about using DNA to verify relationships in your family tree. 

DNA tests are an increasingly popular method that is being used by genealogists to discover their family’s origins and find new relatives. By combining the power of genetic testing with Geni’s World Family Tree, users will be able to confirm or refute connections with confidence, increasing the accuracy of the tree. Uploading DNA data to the World Family Tree will highlight situations where the documented genealogy doesn’t sit well with the biological descendancy. These discrepancies are often caused by mistakes of genealogists, adoptions or infidelities. DNA data will also help separate fact from fiction, as is sometimes the case with people claiming descent from royalty.

Geni.com has spent a year and a half developing this new integration technology. Here is a description of how it works.

The new integration with Family Tree DNA is secure and automatic, making it free of errors that could occur with manual data entry of DNA information. Privacy is strictly enforced and raw DNA data points such as markers and mutations are never shown on Geni. DNA results are displayed on profiles only as haplogroups and matches. Additional privacy settings allow you to control precisely how Geni manages your DNA information on profiles. 

In addition, we have used public online information from Ysearch and Mitosearch —public services operated by Family Tree DNA, for uploading and comparing Y-DNA and mtDNA submitted voluntarily by test takers from various services. Geni has loaded this public data, and our fantastic team of curators has merged the data into the World Family Tree. As a result, Geni celebrates its DNA launch with DNA data points on more than 228,000 people, making it the most DNA-rich collaborative family tree in the world, from day one. These are exciting times for Geni.

For more information see the Geni Blog post entitled, "Geni Adds DNA to the World Family Tree."