Google has announced that it is opening part of its Google Docs suite of applications and introducing a new Visualization API, so that users can make use of third party gadgets and developers can customize applications to sit on top of Google Docs. Anyone can now write a gadget via a Google API, and publish gadgets to an iGoogle page or other web page.
You can, for example, select data or text in a Google Docs applications, pull up a drop-down menu and make a gadget that incorporates and appropriately formats the data or text. Anytime you change the data or text in the underlying document, the associated gadget will be updated. The new Visualization API provides a platform that can be used to create, share and reuse visualizations based on access to structured data sources, such as Google spreadsheets.
Check out Google's post and Webworkerdaily.com's story.