Do-it-yourself Gapminder graphs

On 15 April 2008 Gapminder announced that Google had released Motion Chart which, when used with Google spreadsheet, enables the production of four-dimensional like bubble graphs - "a dynamic flash based chart to explore several indicators over time" (see previous post).

Another presentation by Hans Rosling

Another excellent presentation (this one is longer) by Hans Rosling using the Trendalyzer software (see my previous posting) - this time at the Le Web 3 conference in Paris late last year.

Trendalyzer - graphing data in four dimensions, including time

A 16 March 2007 post on the Official Google Blog announced the acquisition by Google from the Swedish Gapminder Foundation of Trendalyzer data visualisation software and its development team. The example linked to by the post uses cross-country comparison data over time to present animated graphs and maps (Adobe Flash is required). Try it - it's brilliant!

There is also available on the web a presentation by Gapminder founder Hans Rosling using this software at TED last year. It is well worth taking the time to watch.

New version of Microsoft Train Simulator coming

On 19 January 2007 Microsoft (MS) announced that it is making a second attempt at developing a new, second version of Train Simulator, this time based on its recently released Flight Simulator X (FSX) software platform.

As happened with FSX, key members of the MS team, such as Tdragger (Mike Gilbert), Yard Limits (Rick Selby), Sim Elations and Mavyryk, are blogging on the development process.

I enjoyed the first version of Train Simulator (particularly the Marias Pass) and look forward to trying the latest product when it is released.