Gapminder is an amazing data visualization tool. Its a huge leap in how data is represented and thus how stories are told. Large amounts of complex data are worth very little on their own to humans, but with advances like these information can be represented in human-friendly ways which results in quantum leaps of understanding, usability, and recall.
Rosling beautifully illuminates misconceived notions about the world backed up by United Nations data presented using Gapminder.

A GapCast converts statistical time series into moving graphics in ways that allows evidence based trends to be told as simple story lines. The time series used will be made freely available in the web service called Gapminder World that enable end users to further explore the underlying statistics in Trendalyzer graphics.

I highly suggest watching Hans Rosling's TedTalk where he shows off gapminder.
http://gapminder.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=415&Itemid=123 -(2007)
And his Previous 2006 TEDTalk - http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/92
Both highly recommended!