Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Ancestry.com Introduces New AncestryDNA ThruLines™ Feature in Beta Release

Ancestry.com has announced a new feature for AncestryDNA ThruLines™  in a Beta release.  Here is the Ancestry Fact Sheet information for the ThruLines™ feature:


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ThruLines™ Fact Sheet

Overview

● ThruLines™ shows you the common ancestors who likely connect you to your DNA matches—and gives you a clear and simple view of how you’re all related. When you link your public or private searchable family tree to your AncestryDNA results, new chapters of your family story may be revealed. You could see how your DNA matches fit into your family tree and learn new details about the common ancestors who likely connect you.

About the Product

● Easier Discoveries: ThruLines™ makes it easier than ever to make new discoveries -- whether it’s finding out which ancestors connect you to your DNA matches or analyzing how well your DNA match relationships line up with what you know about your family’s history.

● Save Time: Customers may spend hours researching how they’re related to their matches. They review their matches and compare them to their shared matches and public trees to find their common ancestor. ThruLines™ aims to make this effort more efficient, enabling our members to spend more time making meaningful discoveries.

● Find New Potential Ancestors: ThruLines™ may also suggest potential ancestors that will appear with a dashed outline around their names. These are people who are not in your family tree, but appear in the public family trees of other Ancestry members who may share a common ancestor with you.

● Evaluate Relationships using DNA: People who appear in ThruLines™ are labeled with their potential relationship to you based on their position in your family tree. Your DNA matches are also labeled with how many centimorgans (cM) of DNA you share and the relationships that are possible between you. These DNA relationships, combined with relationships suggested in your tree, can help you understand if your DNA matches support what you know about your family’s history.

Release Information

● ThruLines™ will be in open beta on 2/27 and any member who meets the following criteria will receive ThruLines™ insights free for a limited time.

1) Your AncestryDNA results are linked to a public or private searchable family tree.

2) You have DNA matches who have also linked their results to a public or private indexed family tree.

3) Your linked family tree is well built out. It should be 3-4 generations deep to have the
best chance of ThruLines™ finding new discoveries for you to explore.

Qualifying customers can access this feature from the AncestryDNA logged-in home page. This feature will also be highlighted on our landing page at www.ancestry.com/product/new-release.

Ancestry often puts new features in Beta as we test and refine ideas and gather feedback from our customers. Features will come out of Beta when we have enough feedback to validate their value to our customers, including whether the feature will require a subscription.

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At RootsTech 2019, there will be regular Ancestry.com in-booth demos (come and check the schedule!) for this feature.  In addition, Kelly Becker and Neal Varner will present a combined class for ThruLines™  and New and Improved DNA Matching Tools (Ancestry Tools for Genetic Genealogy:  A Comprehensive Overview) on Friday, 1 March at 1:30 p.m. (class RT8001).

Note:  I am happy that Ancestry is adding new features to the AncestryDNA product.  This is, in my opinion, a significant feature that helps users find common ancestors of a DNA Match.  However, it us useful ONLY for a DNA Match with an Ancestry Member Tree.  I have explored this new feature for several days, and will demonstrate it within the next day or two in a blog post.

Disclosure:  I have had a fully paid Ancestry.com subscription since 2000.  Ancestry.com has provided material considerations for travel expenses to meetings, and has hosted events and meals that I have attended in Salt Lake City, in past years.


Copyright (c) 2019, Randall J. Seaver

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

Randy, it was suggested I read your blog because of complaints I was posting about Ancestry's new Thru Lines. I read your statement from Ancestry about the purpose of Thru Lines. I too have been an Ancestry subscriber since 2000 and a World Subscriber since offered. I have a tree of over 13000 individuals almost all supported by documentation. My issue with Thru Lines is this. My father was adopted. My Ancestry tree is comprised of his birth lines as I have his 1915 birth certificate naming his birth parents. On Saturday when I looked at Thru Lines I was delighted and saw his birth parents information (also my mother's info - she was not adopted). On Sunday when I looked again, suddenly my father's father was no longer appearing in Thru Lines but his adoptive father was shown in place of the birth father. The birth mother was still showing. Ancestry is now suggesting I may have DNA matches with the adoptive father and his lineage. NOT TRUE. I do have DNA matches with the birth father. My sister also took the Ancestry DNA test and her matches to the birth father are similar to mine. While I know my true birth/DNA lineage and am in 9 lineage societies because of it, I'm disturbed to see untruth on my line and realize others unsuspecting may be misguided by the Thru Lines information. I pray Ancestry gets this fixed soon. Sandy Carter-Duff, Denver, CO

Randy Seaver said...

Hi Sandy,

Thank you for the comment about your ThruLines problem. I understand! I have an adopted 2nd great-grandfather but have no ThruLines for him at this time.

This ThruLines feature is still in Beta test, so things may not work perfectly. Your problem is one of those problems - they may offer a solution, or tell you to make sure your AMT attached to your DNA reflects the unknown biological parents. Unless you know of a bio sibling to your adopted father, you shouldn't get Thrulines for your father, since you don't know the bio parents. It's probable that some of your DNA Matches will have the bio father in their tree, but ThruLines can't find it because your adopted father isn't in the DNA Match's tree.

The other, and probably the worst problem, is that Ancestry is using a BIG combined Tree to find these Thru Lines. If they have the wrong parents for your father in your Thru Lines, then it will always stay that way until they change the relationships in the BIG tree. I have 4 3rd great-grandparents wrong in their BIG Tree, so I know I won't see the right line if the ThruLine from me goes to the wrong parents.

However, your DNA Match is your Match - you share DNA with that person. If ThruLines is wrong for that Match, don't ignore that Match. The Match with a wrong ThruLine may be your adopted father's match! It's still a DNA Match and Ancestry has not found the right Common Ancestor for you and the Match.

Lastly, AncestryDNA put this BIG Tree together several years ago, and so information in the BIG Tree will always be there until they change it. They may never change the BIG Tree because it would be too big a job to take all of the complaints from all of the users and bounce them against all of the other Tree persons that haven't complained or don't know that the relationships are wrong.

The bottom line is that ThruLines can be used as a suggestion, and you and your Match need to make sure that each ThruLine has correct information. If it is incorrect, then give Feedback to Ancestry and note in your records why you think the ThruLine is incorrect. You could use a Group of "Incorrect ThruLines" to help you.

Good luck -- Randy