At RootsTech, MyHeritage rolled out two new features. In my last blog I wrote about MyHeritage’s Theory of Family Relativity™ and now I’m going to explain about MyHeritage’s AutoClusters tool.
First, let me tell you how you find this new tool on the MyHeritage site. When you’re at your MyHeritage profile screen, you go to DNA (see below).
Then when you hover over DNA, you’ll see DNA Tools NEW. Click on that and you’ll be taken to this page.
As you can see; MyHeritage DNA not only has the new AutoClusters tab but it also has a Chromosome Browser and an Ethnicities Map.
What does an autocluster do? Autoclusters groups the matches that you have in common with you and with each of your matches. By doing so it gives you a visual and with any luck make it easier to see how you connect and to discover who the common ancestor might be.
Autoclusters is the creation of Evert-Jan Blom from Genetic Affairs and when the CEO of MyHeritage saw what Autosclusters could do, he invited Evert-Jan Blom to Isreal and Evert-Jan worked with the MyHeritage team to make improvements to the tool. What I’ve found is that the view is much tidier.
I used the Autoclusters on Genetic Affairs but one of the things you can do on that site is you could adjust the amount of cM’s that the graph would show. I tried it a few times but the outcome for me was messy. On
When you use this new tool on MyHeritage the process doesn’t happen directly on your screen you launch the process and the file is sent to your email later. When I first tried this, while at RootsTech, there was quite a delay in receiving the file (a day or two) but now you receive your report in a couple of hours.
When you receive the email there are three files attached. One is an excel file which lists the names of your matches, how many centimorgans you share with the match, the
The second file you receive is a Chrome HTML document. This is the really cool document because when you first opening it you’ll see a bunch of random colored blocks that start to move and form into clusters. Below is the before and after view.
Each block represents a cluster where everyone in the cluster is connected to you and each other. Along the axis of the screen are the match names. Here you get a real visual of who connects to who. There is the odd grey cell and this represents someone who is connected to you and your match but might not be connected to anyone else in the cluster.
Below the cool graphic is the details of the clusters. So it tell you who’s included in the cluster, how many cM you share, the largest amount of cM you share, how many blocks and a direct link to their tree and the number of people in the tree.
The final document you receive is the Read Me PDF. This document explains how Autoclusters work and then goes into the specifics of your results. As I mentioned the thresholds for MyHeritage Autoclusters are fixed and there are a 30cM min and a 350 cM maximum. Your matches have to connect at 10 cM or more in order to have either a colored or grey cell. The document will then go on to tell you how many DNA matches are included in your report and how many clusters you have.
I have to tell you that I really like this new feature because I have a premium membership on MyHeritage and that means I can generate this report for every DNA kit that I’ve uploaded or tested at MyHeritageDNA. As I mentioned I like it because it’s a much
I will tell you that what I do like about Genetic Affairs is that I’ve included all the kits from all the sites and it provides me with a report every week as to what new matches I have and how close a match they are. I know that might not seem like much but I look after quite a few kits and I’ve tested some of them on every site that I could, so it sometimes is a time saver as I don’t get to all my DNA sites each day. This way I never miss a new match.
MyHeritage AutoClusters is a premium feature that requires a site subscription on MyHeritage (Premium, PremiumPlus or Complete). Users who upload their raw DNA data from another testing service to MyHeritage and do not wish to purchase a subscription can pay a one-time fee of $29 per kit to unlock all advanced DNA features offered by MyHeritage, including AutoClusters.
So if you’ve been thinking about a subscription to MyHeritage that brings me to the promotion I’m currently running that ends on March 13th, 2019. If you use the link HERE you can get a premium subscription for 50% off or $149 cad
This feature is fantastic! Thanks to this being included in my subscription I cancelled my automatic scans on Genetic Affairs. I can always go in manually every once in awhile & run one for new matches on Ancestry.
Meredith, MyHeritage has refined a great tool and I like how the finished product is much cleaner than what I’ve gotten at Genetic Affairs. But I do like the automated check of ALL my account at Genetic Affairs and the overview email with all the information in one email.