LivingDNA Test Results

I received my LivingDNA test results. No, I am not taking multiple tests to see if my heritage will change. I am however intrigued by DNA and they had a great sale at RootsTech this year.

As a side note, I purchased my 23andMe test before Christmas and this test in February. I took both tests and mailed them in on March 3rd. I received my 23andMe results on April 15th. A month later I got my LivingDNA results on May 14th.

The initial navigation is fairly simple but unique. A tutorial kicks on and asks if you want to walk through the results. 

The mtDNA and and Y-DNA results are the same as 23andMe. I am not really surprised but with my experience with MyHeritage DNA I am still skeptical. The above three body outlines and a simple navigation are all you see without drilling down to find more information.

I am sure this website is mobile friendly but the lack of symmetry between the graphics and the text bothers me when I am using my PC. I doctored the above image to get the graph and map in proportion and close together. The rest of the images I will not change.

A unique feature from LivingDNA is the ability to change the display of the results based on three formulas; complete, standard, and cautious. One of the issue I have with the MyHeritage test is explained with these formulas.

• The Complete setting assigns small amounts of the unassigned percentages to regions that look most similar. There is some uncertainty about matching in this way. 
• The Standard setting is assigned using the best guess of the exact source. Unassigned segments are labeled that way.
• The Cautious setting groups genetically similar populations together. This is the most certain result but gives a much bigger footprint to ethnicity.

The selling point of this test was that they claimed to have the best testing for locations within Great Britain. 

LivingDNA also gives you two other ways to understand the percentages of your ethnicity.

The body graph displays the makeup in a visual way. I can see some different colors but since I am color-blind I think this effectiveness is lost on me. 

Clicking on the body sorts the colors together. I understand this much more than the other body graph but these views are my least favorite.

I think the pie-chart view is the easiest to understand besides the map view. The percentage presented are the same in all three presentations but each allow you to see the meaning in different ways.

LivingDNA has the best sharing ability of the four DNA websites I have used. Not only can you share the complete report but it is also just as interactive for those you share with as it is for the users. Sharing works for Facebook and Twitter. They also made it very easy to download your Raw Data so you can use it with other sites. 

Comparing to the other DNA sites I am missing the chromosome browser on this website. I realize that Ancestry also does not have this tool but I think it will become essential. However, the biggest loss is that there is no matching, They group my results, present it in three different ways but there is not any information about others who have taken the test and how closely I am related to them. This may be why there is not a chromosome browser. There is nothing to compare or match. I did not realize this was not a feature of the LivingDNA package.