Google and NORAD have announced a partnership that will let those excited little girls and boys keep tabs on the jolliest man in the world. Harnessing the creepy power of NORAD’s sensor arrays and Google Maps, eager children can follow his 24 hour trek around the world with minute-by-minute precision.
hen Santa and his reindeer do take off at 6:00 am EST on Christmas Eve, a Google Map with Santa’s current location will appear at www.noradsanta.org and will be updated as his journey progresses. Users can also track Santa in 3D in Google Earth by downloading a special NORAD Tracks Santa KML. They can add the NORAD Tracks Santa iGoogle gadget to their iGoogle page anytime. Be sure to visit www.noradsanta.org to catch hi-res Santa Cam video of the sleigh zooming past various locations around the globe over the course of the night, and for locations without video, photos from Panoramio can be viewed in Google Maps. There are also a few new ways to track Santa this Christmas: users can track Santa on their mobile phones with Google Maps for Mobile, and can also follow his whereabouts on Twitter by adding @noradsanta.
This is sure to bolster that insane-can’t-sleep-up-at-5AM-to-watch-crappy-cartoons-because-they’re-the-only-thing-on excitement just a little more. And parents, you know this is a wonderful way to build positive feelings about the power of technology in your kids. While they’re chomping at the bit to spray wrapping paper everywhere, take this time to show them all about these great tools like Twitter and Google Maps.
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