Who created DNA Painter?

• Introduction
  • What do you need in order to use the site?
  • Why would you map your chromosomes?
• Getting started
  • Where do you find the segment data?
  • Assigning segments
  • Other chromosome mapping features
  • How do you use the import function?
• FAQs
  • Trees FAQ
  • Mailing FAQ
  • WATO FAQ
  • Glossary
  • Who created DNA Painter?
• How much does it cost?
• Articles and resources
  • WATO plus user guide
  • Mailing archive

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My name is Jonny Perl and I am a web developer and family history enthusiast based in Swansea in Wales.

After I got my DNA test results, I tried to create chromosome maps in a spreadsheet to try and make sense of segments I shared with my matches. I wanted something I could consult when a new DNA match arrived so I could see where the new match crossed over with existing ones. It looked like this:

Yes, I acknowledge that my spreadsheet skills are somewhat lacking, but this wasn't very fun to use, and as I began to test more relatives, I realised I needed something that would be easier to set up, edit and maintain.

So I built DNA Painter. I hope you'll find it useful. So far it has helped me a lot, and has also grown beyond my expectations. As you can imagine with a one-person development team, not everything is perfect, so I'm very grateful for all feedback. If you have any questions or suggestions please get in touch via email (info@dnapainter.com) or twitter (@dnapainter) or via the dedicated DNA Painter user group on Facebook.

For feature updates please 'like' the DNA Painter page on Facebook, read the blog and join the free mailing list.

Award

DNA Painter won the grand prize in the DNA Innovation contest at Rootstech 2018 in Salt Lake City, UT.

Read more here and here.

Credits

The tree diagram illustration on the 'Assigning Segments' page is adapted from this example by Philipp Khn.

The shared cM tool uses data compiled by Blaine Bettinger and probabilities that were derived by Leah LaPerle Larkin and Andrew Millard from an Ancestry white paper. Many thanks to them.

WATO and the trees both use a layout based on this example by Peiwen Lu. The Gedcom import is based on code from parse-gedcom by Tom MacWright. The fan chart is built with d3 by Mike Bostock and is inspired by Sequences Sunburst by Kerry Rodden. To see full copyright statements, please view the page source of any individual tree.

Many thanks also to everyone in the genetic genealogy community who have helped test this site so far! Particularly the early testers in the DNA help for Genealogy UK group and those in the Genetic Genealogy Tips and Techniques and DNA Painter User Group communities who have pushed me to make the site better.

Next: How much does it cost?