Today, Google has opened up the tools on its Public Data Explorer, so that you can use them to chart any old data set you might have laying around. "If you're a student or a journalist or a teacher, you can upload your data and get the same visualizations that we have for our own product," Ben Yolken, Google's product manager for the Public Data Explorer, tells Co.Design.
The tools were first rolled out a year ago, after the company bought up the Gapminder Trendalizer, a bubble-chart data-viz technology invented by Dr. Hans Rosling, the infographics guru/health researcher/acclaimed TED genius.
[Dr. Rosling showing off the Gapminder Trendalyzer, upon which Google's Public Data Exporer is based]
Thus, on the PDE site right now, you can see all manner of amazing time-based data animations, such as the relationship between fertility and life expectancy in the last 50 years; 20 years of U.S unemployment data; and even STD transmission in the last 15 years.
[Dr Rosling show how rich the tools are]
Now, to use all these nifty charts, you just have to put your data into a special format developed by Google, which is adapted to each of these visualizations. Afterward, you can share that data with anyone you want as a Google Doc.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Google Opens Up Infographic Tools for Everyone's Use | Co.Design
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