Withthe advent of the HumanGenomeProject. the ability to rapidly construct comprehensiveand accuratelinkage mapsbasedongenetic markerdata fromfamily studies is an absolute necessity. In additionto their usefulnessin localizing genesfor bothsimpleand complexdisorders, linkage mapsare invaluabletools for geneticcounselingusinglinked markergenes. Several computerprogrampackages are publiclyavailablewhichaid in the constructionof linkage mapsby computingmultipointlikelihoods for specified locus orders. However,these programs workin a step-by-stepfashion, requiring intensive user-intervention andanalysis at eachstep. Sucha repetitive process is amenableto computerized automation.Wehavedevelopedand tested an expert systemcomputerprogram,MultiMap,for automated genetic linkage mapping. This programgreatly reduces the amountof user-computerinteraction, increasing the accuracyand speedwithwhicha map canbe constructed. In addition, becausethe total mappingtime is greatly reducedthroughautomation...