How To Use GEDmatch To Find Ethnicity? (2024) | Genetic Matches

Table of Contents

Brief Overview of GEDmatch

Before getting into details on how to find ethnicity on Gedmatch, let’s get a brief idea of GEDmatch first. GEDmatch is an online service that provides free DNA analysis tools and some advanced tools that can help to compare the DNA data gathered from different testing companies. These tools also help to find about the family members and the ancestry of an individual.

Curtis Rogers and John Olson are the founders of this useful application GEDmatch. The application has been running for nine years and it has become quite popular especially among the genealogists who believe that this can be a useful tool to build a family tree.

Importance To Find Ethnicity on Gedmatch

Readers now know about the tool GEDmatch that helps in analyzing DNA to discover ethnicity but we need to know what is the importance of discovering ethnicity in our lives.

Identifying one’s ethnicity can help to associate with their cultural roots. They can relate to their culture, customs and practices.
Ethnicity identification can find hidden aspects of one’s heritage. This exploration can lead to personal discoveries.
It helps to track the migration patterns of our ancestors.
With the help of GEDmatch we can focus on ethnicity and on specific genes that are responsible for certain health conditions which may help us to avoid those complications on our health.

Can GEDmatch Tell me my Ethnicity, a GEDmatch Account

Registration Process

In this section steps are given on how to register on GEDmatch app and how to find ethnicity on gedmatch app.

First download a copy of raw data from a DNA testing company of your choice
Go to the website of GEDmatch and click on a “New User” to register your GEDmatch account.
Fill up the form to find ethnicity on Gedmatch.
For confirmation check the mail.
A code will be provided in the email. Fill it in the Gedmatch site to complete the registration process.
Go to the file uploads box and choose your DNA testing company. Fill up the required information.
Upload your DNA data in the File Uploads menu.
The results will take a few weeks to process and after completion they will appear on the homepage of the site with the title “Your DNA Resources”.

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Uploading Your DNA Data to GEDmatch

In the above steps you may have come across the importance of a few companies that provide raw DNA data. One question may arise, how do I get ancestry from GEDmatch through a few companies? There are names of few companies which are compatible with GEDmatch results. They are:

AncestryDNA (Ancestry.com)
Family Tree DNA (FTDNA)
LivingDNA
MyHeritage
23andMe

Navigating GEDmatch Tools

A. How to find Ethnicity on Gedmatch Admixture?

Gedmatch admixture tool is something that helps you not only find ethnicity on Gedmatch but also connect it with your ancestors from history. Admixture tools help to detect the percentage of your genetic makeup similar to a particular region of the world and ancestors.

Few calculators have been created by several scientists and researchers by using their databases of DNA information which they gathered through various research activities. These calculators can be used to obtain the ethnicity estimation results on Gedmatch through your DNA information. These Gedmatch Admixture calculators are there in the application tool post uploading of data processes completes.

B. Ethnicity Estimation tools

How do I find out my genes and ethnic background? Here are a few tools to estimate the ethnicity of a person.

Free Tools

Premium Tier 1 tools

●       One to many limited version
●       One to one autosomal DNA comparison
●       One to one X DNA comparison
●       Admixture (Heritage)
●       Admixture/ Oracle with population search
●       People who match both or 1 of 2 kits
●       DNA file diagnostic utility
●       Are your parents related?
●       3D chromosome browser
●       Archaic DNA matches
Ancestor projects

● Segment search
● Q-matching enhanced one-to-one
Clusters

How do I find my family on GEDmatch? Interpreting Ethnicity Results

Till so far readers got the idea how to find ethnicity on gedmatch free. Now a few steps are described to use the administrator calculators and interpret the results.

Step 1- First choose a tool that will analyze your data. The administrator project will direct to a page from here choose the one that will analyze the DNA. There are many projects, some of them have different types of calculators for analysis. “Admixture proportions” is one of the simple tools which provide results that are similar to your estimated ethnicity results given by a DNA testing company.
Step 2- The next step is to select a GEDmatch Admixture calculator of your choice that matches with your preferences.

Comparing with Matches

To find ethnicity on Gedmatch you need to compare your ethnicity result with the results of other people with the help of a few tools present in the GEDmatch. Presently there are 5 projects running on GEDmatch that offer calculators to find your ethnicity. Before choosing the best project and calculator model you need to analyze that among all these is closely related to your knowledge on your heritage and ancestors.

Projects Name	Areas to Focus
MDLP	Global Focus
Dodecad	European, Asian or North African ancestry
HarrapaWorld	South East Asian DNA
EthioHelix	African, East African and Ethiopian linguistics and history
GedrosiaDNA	Eurasian (Europe and Asia) and Sub Saharan DNA
puntDNAL	Ancient DNA groups

DNA Data transfer to GEDmatch — *Source: Twitter-@DNAGenie1*

Is GEDmatch Safe to find the Ethnicity?

So far in this blog we have covered information about GEDmatch history, background, admixture calculators, DNA testing companies, steps to form a GEDmatch account and so on. But safety and privacy is above all. To address the safety issues, read this section.Gedmatch started a free service that allows the family members to use their DNA data to search their ancestry.

The company was later purchased by Verogen, a forensic company. Post this, some concerns regarding DNA privacy and transfer of data were raised by the users.An incident came into limelight in 2020, the GEDmatch data was breached by hackers. Due to his incident the privacy of millions of user accounts were overridden. The law enforcement agencies could see the data of millions of people without their consent.

As a result, the site was closed down and privacy was restored. The people and authorities demanded GEDmatch for being more transparent regarding law enforcement. Few companies like 23andMe and Ancestry that are associated with GEDmatch publish their reports regularly for legal reasons. ConclusionAs we come to the end of this Article, we can conclude a few things about GEDmatch.

Also Many people have concerns about Is GEDmatch still free? So the answer for this everyone’s question is Yes, You can find your Ethnicity on the GEDmatch website for free.

GEDmatch is an online tool that is useful for ethnicity analysis by using various tools and features available on their platform.
Discovering one’s ethnicity is important to reflect cultural identity, discover migration patterns of ancestors, look into the medical insights of their ethnicity and much more.
There are few systematic steps that need to be followed by any user to explore their genetic heritage, discover ancestor roots and gain knowledge of their ethnic composition.
The raw DNA data can be presented from various DNA testing companies whose results are compatible with the GEDmatch such as AncestryDNA, Family Tree DNA, LivingDNA, MyHeritage and 23andMe.
GEDmatch has advanced tools and calculators to interpret your ancestry results. These calculators are formed by various researchers and scientists who gathered DNA databases based on research programs conducted by them. Few such calculators are EthioHelix K10 Africa, EthioHelix K10 + French, EthioHelix, HarrapaWorld, Eurogenes K36, etc

Finally we look into the safety concerns of conducting tests on GEDmatch.

FAQ’s

What is GEDmatch?

GEDmatch is an online platform where users can upload DNA data to compare and analyze their genetic information for genealogical and ancestral research.

How does GEDmatch work?

Users upload their DNA raw data, enabling comparisons with others in the database to identify potential relatives and explore genetic connections.

Is GEDmatch a DNA testing company?

No, GEDmatch is not a DNA testing company; it’s a third-party service that accepts data uploads from various testing companies.

Is GEDmatch free to use?

GEDmatch offers both free and premium services; basic features are free, while additional tools may be accessed through a subscription.

What are the privacy implications of using GEDmatch?

Users should be aware that GEDmatch involves privacy considerations, potentially exposing DNA data to relatives and law enforcement; understanding and adjusting privacy settings is crucial.

Ancestry	Gedmatch Admixture calculators	Features	Picture for Reference
African Ancestry	EthioHelix K10 Africa, EthioHelix K10 + French and EthioHelix calculator	● EthioHelix K10 Africa is recommended for those with only African ancestry and no European Ancestry ● EthioHelix K10 + French model is recommended for those who have both African and European ancestry. ● EthioHelix is recommended for African-American people to explore African ancestry more.
Native American Ancestry	Eurogenes K36 and MDLP World-22	● Eurogenes K36 is recommended for detection of a minor percentage of native American ancestry from European descent. MDLP World-22 is recommended for native American people but also covers a wide range of geographical areas.
Asian Ancestry	HarrapaWorld calculator	The HarrapaWorld calculator model is recommended for Asian-American.
European Ancestry	Eurogenes K36 and Eurogenes Jtest calculator	Eurogenes K36 is recommended for European ancestry. Eurogenes Jtest is recommended for European as well as Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry.
Ancient DNA	Gedmatch Ancient Eurasia K6 calculator	Gedmatch Ancient Eurasia K6 calculator mainly recommended for ancient DNA.