An explosion of new tree tools | DNA Painter Blog

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Over the past year, there has been a sudden proliferation of tools to help genealogists analyze and display family trees. Most of these tree tools are aimed at a broad family history audience, while others are designed for investigative genetic genealogy. In this post, I’ll look at some of these tools and also discuss the current landscape for web development in genealogy.

Why trees?

No one should be surprised that genealogists want to build tools to visualize and interrogate family trees. After all, the family tree is at the heart of our work. And since we can export its data to GEDCOM, an easy-to-parse text format, there are endless possibilities for analysis and presentation. However, back in 2019 when I launched ancestral trees at DNA Painter, there weren’t that many web-based tools available.

Anyone can do it

The reason for this sudden change won’t surprise anyone. While many still code ‘the old way,’ the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has changed things. Anyone who wants to can now visualize their GEDCOM file simply by asking a chatbot. Some stop there, while others take the extra step to turn their work into a standalone web application that others can use without having to engage with AI to build it from scratch.

It’s remarkable how quickly things have changed. In the summer of 2022, I wanted add a map feature to ancestral trees, and wasn’t sure where to start. I hired a developer who built what would become (when I eventually launched it!) the Places feature within ancestral trees. Fast forward to 2026, and anyone can build a variation on this feature just asking an AI chatbot to build and deploy it (and someone has actually done this; read on for more!)

Of course, this doesn’t mean that these apps are thrown together: there’s still a great deal of iteration and testing involved even if AI is doing the actual coding. There’s also a broad spectrum of AI use, from developers who use AI for advice or small snippets of code, to non-technical enthusiasts who create an app entirely from a chatbot prompt.

My take

My position on all this is complicated:

In general, opening up development to anyone who is passionate about a topic, regardless of whether or not they know how to code, has to be a positive thing. After all, web developers do not have a monopoly on interesting ideas: the most important factors are a passion for the subject and diligent testing skills.

However, with my web developer hat on, I feel a bit wary: apps developed with AI may be more likely have security holes since those who develop them may not yet have much experience with these issues.

There’s also a potential danger that a bad actor could duplicate a popular web app and use it to harvest data.

Overall, I’m definitely enthusiastic about the possibilities!

Specific tree applications

Here are some of the applications that have caught my attention recently. To be clear, these were not all created with AI. I haven’t yet had time to explore all of them in detail, but hope to do so in the coming months.

ToolFocusAncestor Map BuilderAncestor migration mapGedminerGEDCOM analysis, research ideas TreeAliveAncestor location animationsTreeLabGEDCOM analysis, visualisationsTreeScopeDNA match treesCanopyLinkIGG case managementFiggTree ProUpcoming forensic workflow tool

These sites tend to have slick designs that feel fresh in contrast with the "old school computer program" look and feel of traditional desktop genealogy software. I’m guessing there will be some I’ve missed, and people are probably creating new ones as I type; if you spot a promising new tool, please feel free to email me about it!

Ancestor Map Builder 2.0

Ancestor Map Builder: webjmd.com/mymapbuilder/<br>"See where your ancestors came from — and make a map you can share."

Built by Jason Duncan using Claude Code, this is a web application that lets you build an ancestor map similar to that in DNA Painter Places. At present you need to position each pin manually. You can read more on Jason’s blog or click below to access the app directly.

Gedminer

Gedminer: gedminer.com<br>"Upload your GEDCOM file to uncover insights, find research opportunities, and validate your genealogy data"

Clearly a labour of love, Gedminer combines guides and FAQs with extensive tree analysis, highlighting errors and making research suggestions. The site stores your data in your browser without sending it to a server, although you can also create a free user account to save it there if you want to.

TreeAlive

TreeAlive: treealive.com<br>"TreeAlive turns your family tree into a short film: every birth, migration, and marriage, animated on historical maps from the years your family lived them"

TreeAlive is an impressive and very ambitious site built by Sam Morrison. It combines maps with location information from your tree (such as census data) to create animated visualisations of migration over...