It is now possible to know the place where a person's DNA was formed up to 1,000 years ago. A novel tool developed by researchers from the University of Sheffield works similarly to a satellite navigation system.

The Geographic Population Structure (GPS) tool would help know a person's ancestors and exactly the region of village they belonged to. Researcher Eran Elhaik of the University of Sheffield said the tool helped them assess the variations in a person's DNA.

On the basis of variations, researchers make predictions and accurate ones to know about the location on the world where a person's ancestors had lived. A person's DNA is compared with genetic variations of populations specific to different areas of the world.

The development is one of a kind, said researchers. "What is remarkable is that, we can do this so accurately that we can locate the village where your ancestors lived hundreds and hundreds of years ago", affirmed Elhaik.

To show the working of the GPS and its accuracy level, researchers assessed data from 10 villages in Sardinia, the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. With the help of the tool, researchers were able to place 25% of the residents in Sardinia to their direct village and most of the remaining residents within 50km of their village. Researchers said the experiment delivered around 90% accuracy rate.