Excel's Power Maps take bar graphs to some new and mildly interesting places
There are only so many ways one can juice up boring Excel data, but Microsoft's new Power Map Preview for Office 365  looks like it's up to the challenge. The 3D map visualizer has just  graduated from "project" status with a handful of features sure to  please number crunchers and map lovers alike. Power Map can  automatically recognize geographical data in your spreadsheets -- from  latitude and longitude coordinates to city or country names -- and plot  associated values to points on a Bing map.  You can also color code locales to see regional trends, switch between  globe and flat map views and create "interactive" video tours for  traversing your 3D spreadsheets. Those determined to turn raw numbers  into eye candy will find the add-in on Microsoft's Download Center, and  for an idea of what it can do, a sample video tour Redmond made earlier  is located after the jump.
Original.. http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/26/excel-power-map-office-365/