Google Play Services 6.5 brings improvements to Maps, Fit and Drive

Google has released Play Services 6.5, the company’s framework available to all Android developers from Froyo to Lollipop.

Included in this version are improvements to Maps, Fit, Drive and Wallet, tools that help aid integration with third-party apps.

Maps has received the most attention here, with a “toolbar” that helps users immediately obtain directions and navigation instructions to a particular point (see below). A new “lite mode” allows developers to add Maps elements on a much smaller scale, such as in thumbnail or small icon form.

Improvements to Drive, Wallet and Fit are smaller, but still important. For example, Drive now implements low-power background uploading schemes to be friendlier on one’s battery, and Fit now has better delineation between specific activities.

Finally, Google has added Granular Dependency Management, which allows developers to use only the APIs necessary to perform a specific task.

Lots of improvements for developers this week, and Google says the SDK is rolling out in the next few days.

[source]Android Developers[/source]