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Share the magic of watching Santa’s trip tonight. Gone are the days when you had to launch your own satellite to track Santa’s journey across the globe. Nowadays you can enlist the aid of tech to follow Santa and his sleigh around the world. These tech tools make it fun to watch Santa and see where he and his team of reindeer are headed next and when they’ll be visiting your town.
NORAD
NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, keeps close track of the skies not only to keep them safe but also to monitor Santa’s trip on Christmas Eve. To access NORAD’s official monitoring site, head to noradsanta.org and see a Christmas Countdown clock as well as global tracking of Santa’s journey. Spin the globe to find your town and see how close Santa is. Choose from eight different languages and explore the North Pole.
Here’s a video showing how NORAD will be Santa’s journey in 2013:
On the NORAD site you can also watch movies, visit Santa’s library and play reindeer games. You can also listen to Christmas carols performed by the US Air Force Academy band. Check out NORAD HQ with inside information about how NORAD tracks Santa.
Follow NORAD following Santa on Twitter @NORADSanta:
Follow #NORAD as they track #Santa during his test flight. Satellites, radars & jets…Oh My! http://t.co/EzOoOgmPaw
— NORAD Santa (@NoradSanta) December 21, 2013
Also see, NORAD Tracks Santa’s Path on Christmas Eve Because of a Typo, by Megan Garber in The Atlantic, explaining how a typo in a Sears ad in 1955 led to the predecessor of NORAD tracking Santa.
Google Santa Tracker
Head to Google Maps Santa Tracker to see where Santa is on the map. See a Countdown to Christmas and visit Santa’s village, filled with games and surprises to pass the time while you wait for the Big Day.
Other Important Santa Websites
In the unlikely event you encounter any Santa doubters, point them to Proving Santa Claus is real by The Omni Brain.
If they’re still unconvinced, show them: Finally, The Real Truth About Santa Clause (Photos) by Serge Bielanko at Babble.
And finally, here is an infographic from Christmas Tree Market explaining the physics of Santa Claus, Elves and the Workshop:
How does Santa create and deliver gifts to all the children in the world? Christmas Tree Market has put the wonders and science of Santa and his helpers into a visual guide to show you the Physics of Santa Claus. There’s a lot of work that goes into the production, storage, and delivery of Christmas gifts – so be sure to show thanks to Santa and his elves by leaving cookies next to your Christmas tree!
Your Thoughts
Do you track Santa’s journey? What are your favorite Santa tech tools? Did you know the history of how NORAD came to track Santa? Have you played any Santa games? How about reindeer games? Let us know in the Comments section below!
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*Special thanks to Santa’s helper Katie for her assistance with this article.
**Town at Night image courtesy of Jazmin Million
What I’m really enjoying is the use of flat design in the Santa Tracker ad. I’ve noticed it flat design a lot in this holiday season – trying to learn how to do it on my own. Not always easy to see what to eliminate and what to include when designing in that fashion. I’m more used to realism.
I know that wasn’t the point of your post, but that’s what draws in my eye! Looks like these are some fun gadgets that might interest a youngster.
Hi Leora, Ho, ho, ho! Yes, the flat design is very popular now, probably with Apple’s help. The interactive design of these websites is very cool, fun for kids and adults!
Hi Carolyn
We’ve been tracking Santa here on the Google Santa tracker all day.
Maebh, my daughter, and I watched all of the videos and played a few of the games whilst my son, George, was playing on the PlayStation and my wife had a lie in!
We’re got some reindeer dust and some oats to put out for the reindeer tonight to give them a little boost.
Santa will no doubt be well catered for too.
Have a brilliant Christmas Carolyn.
Tim
Sounds like you are on top of this, Tim! Good thing too, because Santa will be visiting your house soon.
Merry Christmas to you and your family, Tim!
Hello,
WOW amazing infographics on Santas magic bag. Well we’ve been tracking santa using google santa tracker and it’s really cool tool from google.
BTW Merry Christmas,
Cheers!
Hi Anil, So glad you enjoyed this. Yes, tech has made tracking Santa’s journey much more fun!