Gapminder a Stockholm-based non-profit venture for development and provision of free software that visualise human development. It wants to "make the data more accessible and easier to use for instant visual analysis." They developed a tool called Trendalyzer "that turns boring (...) statistics into attractive moving graphics" and used it to visualize. Googlers found about the organization last year, when Gapminder gave a very interesting presentation at Googleplex. After hosting their visualization tool on Google's servers for almost a year, Google decided to acquire the technology from Gapminder.
Gapminder and Google share an enthusiasm for technology that makes data easily accessible and understandable to the world. Gapminder’s Trendalyzer software unveils the beauty of statistics by converting boring numbers into enjoyable interactive animations. We believe that Google’s acquisition of Trendalyzer will speed up the achievement of this noble goal. Trendalyzer’s developers have left Gapminder to join Google in Mountain View, where Google intends to improve and scale up Trendalyzer, and make it freely available to those who seek access to statistics.
Where could we the technology used by google ? Well... a better Google Trends, enhanced statistics for all Google services, or maybe a cool integration with Google Earth