Artificial Ancestry Data for Software Development

In this post, we are going deeper into the Dynamic Data project, looking at the Ancestry dynamic data (library available here on GitHub and at NPM). Opening the library, you’ll see there is one type of data file: RawDataObject

Learn more about dynamic data generators and the benefits of artificial data in software development.

About the data source

Ancestry is a genealogy website that offers several services such as:

• Family Tree Creation - Users can create a family tree with linked data sources
• Historical Records Search - Users can browse collected Birth, Death, Marriage, Census, and War Records
• AncestryDNA - Analyses the user's DNA to discover their heritage and personal traits 

Approach used

Ancestry provides a data exporting service that allows users to download their raw genotype data. A subset of such data was converted into JSON format to create a mockup file. A simple data model of these objects can be seen below. This mockup file makes up the ancestry-data package.

The ancestry-mockup package imports the file above and goes through each attribute generating artificial (new) data using proprietary functions, such as those found in the utils package.

For example, with the RawDataObject object:

Static RawDataObject Object

​Artificial RawDataObject Object

Use case ideas

• Health/Diet Apps
• Avatar Visualization
• etc.

Explore entirely new use cases

• Biomarkers of concern, through database lookup or machine learning efforts, to encourage a professional medical diagnosis
• Using your genetic data, construct an avatar with realistic similarities to the user
• Ancestry Journey - shows your ancestry through a timeline with a stylized person from the earliest recorded time to now. 
• Recommend food that works best with a genetic profile
• Educational App which helps to reduce the complexity of the data and make it accessible to the user

Ideas to combine with some other data sources

Combine with similar Raw Genetic Data exports, like from 23andMe, to gain a greater scope of genetic data. Look at any discrepancies for further analysis. 

Combine with photo applications to generate a life-like model of the user. For instance, genetic data can help provide data about hair (texture, baldness, etc.) but cannot tell your hairstyle.

Open-source data library

We welcome contributions and forks to this data set, and look forward to seeing what developers build in our Liberty. Equality. Data. Slack channel.

Considerations for next version/improvements

With Prifina developers can use the Dynamic Data Libraries natively in the App Studio to build direct to consumer apps where individuals can run them with their own user-held data.

Join our Slack community; Liberty. Equality. Data. to brainstorm and collaborate with other app developers, designers, and our team.