At Google I/O, we heard a little bit about Google Fit - Google's renewed effort at quantified, managed health data. We heard that multiple partners had signed on and got a taste of what Google Fit would be able to accomplish, but beyond that details were a little hazy.

We were however told a preview SDK would be made available in "coming weeks," (a dreaded phrase to any Google user) and today that promise has been fulfilled. In a post to its Developers Blog, Google has announced the Google Fit preview SDK, explaining that Fit provides a "single set of APIs for apps and device manufacturers to store and access data from fitness apps and sensors," making it easy for apps to provide not just raw fitness data, but useful insights based on those data.

Google goes on to break down the three sets of APIs included in Google Fit.

There are three sets of APIs designed to meet specific developer needs:

  1. Sensors API provides high-level access to sensors from the device and wearables—so with one API your app can talk to sensors, whether on an Android device or a wearable. So if you’re making a running app, you could register it to receive updates from a connected heart rate monitor every 5 seconds during a user’s run and give immediate feedback to the runner on the display.
  2. Recording API allows apps to register for battery-efficient, cloud-synced background collection of fitness data. For example, a running app could ask to store user’s location so it can map the run later. Once it registers for these data types, collection is done by Fit in the background with no further work needed by the app.
  3. History API allows operations on the data like read, insert and delete. When the exerciser finishes her run, the running app can query the History API for all locations during the run and show a map.

The post also gives developers some instruction on using Android's SDK Manager (and a special build of Android L) to get started with the preview SDK so whether you're a developer who's been waiting for Fit, or just a curious user, hit the link below to see the full post. Then, if you'd like to commune with your fellow Fit developers, join the official Google Fit Developers community, also opened today.

Source: Google Developers Blog