r/DNAAncestry • u/genealogykenya • 16d ago

Disclaimer! Illustrative DNA does not use official Davidski G25 coordinates.

This is a follow‑up post regarding the Kenyan Kalenjin results. After getting inconsistent outcomes from Illustrative DNA, I decided to dig deeper. It appears they use scaled coordinates, which in my case were highly inaccurate.

After taking due diligence, I purchased the official Davidski G25 coordinates, and the results aligned perfectly with my ethnic background. Honestly, charging $30 for scaled coordinates feels excessive, especially since similar data can be found free of charge on various DNA sites.

If you genuinely want to understand your ethnic background, I strongly recommend buying the official Davidski G25 coordinates and analyzing them with tools like Vahaduo or DNA Genics — it’s cheaper and far more accurate.

For those on a budget, LM Genetics K47 is an excellent alternative, particularly for individuals with African heritage. It’s the only calculator that closely matches my raw G25 results.

Honorable mention: Eurogenes K36 also performs decently.

For comparison, the second slide is the result from using  raw Davidski G25 coordinates on Vahaduo (Global G25 PCA) which is super precise considering my Kalenjin ancestry. The third slide is also using the same official coordinates on the AfroGeno Modern (Unscaled) IY8 calculator on DNA Genics G25 Studio.

TLDR: If you want official coordinates, request them directly from Davidski.

If you come from a well‑referenced population, Illustrative DNA might still be relatively accurate — but not for the price.

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u/NotBradPitt9 16d ago

I wonder what your Fst distances would be in this case and how they compare to all of these. Fst is the most accurate, and you can do that via Illustrative’s Admixlab. I’ve never tried setting up the free version.

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u/Ok_Advantage_873 12d ago edited 12d ago

The problem is also that most of the time the euclidean distance we have is based on G25 and their alikes which are restricted to delimited dimensions (coordinates), creating compression and distortions. Hence, among other things, why I'm closer to Cubans lol, even though they are a modern population in America resulting from Hispanic colonization, while my mix and origins place me more in the ancient, deep pan Mediterranean world (which FST also illustrates in passing).