Methods and systems for identifying and selecting nucleic acid probes for detecting a target with a nucleic acid probe array or comparative genome hybridization microarray, comprising selecting a plurality of potential target sequences, generating a plurality of candidate probes from the target sequences, filtering the plurality of candidate probes by analyzing candidate probes for selected probe properties in silico. Microarrays comprising probes selected by the methods of the invention are particularly useful for comparative genome hybridization and location analysis.