A genetic map of highly polymorphic microsatellite markers spanning the von Hippel-Lindau region (VHL) of 3p25 was constructed using the CEPH reference pedigrees. A greater than 1000:1 odds map of pter-D3S1038-RAF1-D3S651-D3S656-D3S110- D3S1255-cen was found. Genotyping of six multigenerational VHL families showed the region surrounding the D3S1038 marker to be the most likely location for the VHL gene with a peak location score of 10.04 with VHL completely linked to D3S1038. These data provide an initial high resolution genetic map of this region; D3S1038 appears to be a highly polymorphic marker that should prove useful in the future for presymptomatic diagnosis.