NORAD: One-Stop Shopping For Santa Tracking

This is my seventh year writing about ways to track Santa. When I started in 2005, there were a variety of different services. Since then, most of these have disappeared, unable to match NORAD Track Santa.

NORAD is the US-Canadian military organization that tracks missiles and other potential threats from the sky. But on Christmas Eve, the group tracks not a threat but a treat, Jolly Old St. Nicholas and his eight reindeer. Or nine, if the conditions call for Rudolph to light the way.

NORAD began tracking Father Christmas more than 50 years ago by accident. A store ad invited kids to call for Santa updates. But the phone number was misprinted. Calls instead went to NORAD’s predecessor, CONAD. Rather than disappoint those children, high-tech radar technology was employed to spot Santa.

In 2007, NORAD officially partnered up with Google, which knows a thing or two about finding information. The NORAD Track Santa site sprouted a range of new Santa tracking tools, as a result. Google is once again helping out this year.

Below, you’ll find a close-up look at what the site offers. Links are to the English-language version of the site. If you need another language, select that from the site’s home page. Further below, I’ll also cover other Santa Claus tracker tools and tips.

NORAD’s Map & Santa Videos

When you first come into the site, if you have the Google Earth plug-in (more about this below) you’ll be shown a live shot of Father Christmas flying over his current location, along with where he is headed:

If you don’t have the plug-in, you’ll be shown a map of Santa’s journey around the world. NORAD uses radar, satellites, fighter jets and SantaCams to plot this map. For those with the plug-in, to reach the map, click on the “Track Santa On Google Maps” button above the map or go to the map page:

If you click on Santa himself, you’ll get information about where he’s currently visiting:

Click on any of the little gift icons to learn more about where Kris Kringle’s been:

Click on the video icons for a special treat. You’ll see a Santa fly-by around local landmarks:

The Videos page lists all the fly-bys that have been recorded already. You can also find videos on the NORAD Tracks Santa YouTube channel. Here’s Santa flying over Mount Everest:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Call Or Email NORAD To Find Santa

No access to a web browser? NORAD’s still got you covered.

You can call or email the tracking center shown on the right get an update on where St. Nick is currently at.

From NORAD’s contact page:

Phone: (877) 446-6723, toll-free in the US or (719) 556-5211, if outside the US, not free.

Email: noradtrackssanta@gmail.com

Here’s an example of how one looks that I received this year:

The phone and email lines open at 6am Eastern Time.

Postscript: Among those taking calls this year, First Lady Michelle Obama:

On the picture notes the White House posted, some calls were apparently routed to her in Hawaii.

Santa Claus In Google Earth

Want to see Father Christmas flying in real-time? Visit this page with your web browser for a Google Earth view of his journey, which will look like this:

If you don’t do anything, Santa will fly right off the real-time cam. Click the “Follow Santa” button to employ the high-speed auto-follow mode to keep him in site.

Near major cities, you should see him zipping around delivering presents so fast that only red streaks are visible.

You’ll need a special plug-in for this to work. The page should prompt you to install this, if you don’t have it. Otherwise, you can find it here.

Tracking Santa Through Google Maps For Mobile

If you have Google Maps For Mobile, you can find Santa Claus by simply searching for the word “Santa” using the app. Santa’s current location will be shown. Here’s how it looks in the iPhone on the left and Android on the right:

For the lazy who just want to speak to their phone to find Santa, here’s a special Christmas edition of our Siri versus Google Voice Actions head-to-head test:

Above, I said “Where’s Santa” to my iPhone 4S (on the left), which just confused Siri. But on my Android-based Droid Charge (on the right(, Google Voice Actions turned that into a search for “Map of santa” and brought Santa’s location up in Google Maps.

The Google Maps For Mobile app is available for all major smartphones, including BlackBerry and Windows Phone. It’s not a flashy presentation, but it works, and it’s free.

Tracking Santa By iPhone

If the Google Maps For Mobile application isn’t enough for you, there are a variety of iPhone apps that are offered.

My favorite from last year is back again, Santa Tracker 2011 from Talus Media. It shows your location in yellow and Santa’s in red, along with a countdown clock to when he should arrive near you.

I also like the “The List” that allows you to put people down as either “naughty” or “nice.” I’ve had lots of fun teasing my kids throughout Christmas Eve, moving them back and forth on the list. They love it.

The app is $1, but it has a strong free rival this year, the official NORAD Tracks Santa app for iPhone. That provides a countdown clock, Santa’s current location and an “Elf Toss” game — think Angry Birds, but with an elf and a sleigh.

Another free app that caught my eye was Where Is Santa Lite. I like the radar beam that swings across the map of the world. Santa’s locations are highlighted, along with his current and next location. Clicking the “My Home” button gives you a location-specific countdown.

Tracking Santa By Android

On Android, your best bet is probably to use the official NORAD Track Santa app for Android. It offers all the same things as the iPhone version (as pictured to the right), and it’s also free.

Santa Tracker from Value Apps is fairly boring yet useful for little ones. Got little kids you need to get to sleep way before midnight? NORAD and most Santa trackers I’ve seen over the years don’t help. Santa only draws near to your home around the midnight hour.

The Value Apps app simply draws a short line from Santa to near your home location. Like I said, pretty boring. But if you have little kids, that’s proof positive that Santa’s almost at your house, so they need to scurry to bed.

Countdown To Christmas from Onteca is a free app that shows images of Santa caught as black-and-white pictures, which are pretty funny. They also make a paid app with a global tracker, but I didn’t find it worthwhile last year. This year, it still doesn’t look worth the $2.

I don’t have a BlackBerry phone, but CrackBerry recommended the Santa Tracker app last year. I see it’s still offered this year, and the price as dropped from $3 to $2.

Tracking Santa Through Social Media

St. Nicholas is hip to the ways of social media. With the help of NORAD, he’s got accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus.

On Twitter, you can follow @noradsanta to get updates sent to your Twitter stream:

On Facebook, information (but not a lot of updates on location) are provided through the NORAD Track Santa Facebook page:

Over at Google+ is the NORAD Tracks Santa Google+ page. As with Facebook, it’s more about the NORAD tracking operations rather than updates on where Santa is:

More Info & Merry Christmas!

Looking for more? There’s an unofficial wiki all about NORAD’s Santa tracking efforts. There are also news articles each year about the service. Here’s a recent AP one. Want to make a personal video from Santa for your child? Here’s a service we liked.

Also, if you haven’t seen it, Google’s got a pretty cool Happy Holidays logo going right now. A search on Google for Christmas brings up a special decoration (searching for Hanukkah or Kwanzaa also brings up decorations for those holidays). And if you need snow, search for “let it snow” on Google. You’ll get plenty.

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Search Engine Land!

NOTE: For the latest news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!

Where’s Santa? Google & NORAD Know

Let’s start with Santa. Since it’s not Christmas Eve, the site has a countdown until it begins Santa tracking operations for 2011:

The site also has holiday video messages and “Countdown Village,” where kids try to discover which part of the village is busiest:

On Christmas Eve, the real action begins. You’ll be able to track Santa Claus on a map, through your phone and watch videos. Google’s blog post explains more, as does our story from last year. Here’s also highlight from last year:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bing’s Calendar Of Surprises

Over at Bing, the Bing Magical Holiday Calendar is brand new. Like an Advent calendar, you can “open” one of the many items each day for a suprise:

Currently, selecting the first day plays a video highlighting key events from the year:

The video often swoops back to put the subjects in the context of a search at Bing:

Bing doesn’t have the video up on either its own Bing Originals channel or its YouTube channel, but it’s pretty nice.

The Bing blog post about the calendar says that it’s also offering the chance to win prizes, but I saw nothing like that myself. Perhaps that will be part of future surprises under those numbers.

Bing also has some cute Christmas TV ads running. See our previous post about that:

• Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Search Engine? Bing’s New TV Ads Have A Ranking/Bass Stop-Motion Flavor.

As for the Google-NORAD Santa Tracker, be sure to return to that on Christmas Eve.  To really understand all you’ll be able to do, see our detailed review from last year:

• Where Is Santa Claus? The 2010 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Google Earth

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!

NORAD’s Santa Tracking Monopoly

I’ve been writing about Santa tracking for five years now. Back in 2005, there were a variety of Santa tracking services out there. Since then, most of them have given up and simply point to NORAD Tracks Santa. That’s fine — NORAD does a great job.

NORAD is the joint US-Canadian missile tracking organization. But for more than 50 years, NORAD has also been tracking Kris Kringle due to a misprinted phone number. Since 2007, NORAD partnered formally with Google to produce an entire suite of Jolly St. Nick monitoring tools.

Below, a close-up of specific options from NORAD, with links to the English-language instructions. Need another language? Select from the NORAD site’s home page. After NORAD, I’ll also cover what alternatives remain. By the way, there’s also an unofficial wiki dedicated to covering NORAD’s Santa tracking efforts.

NORAD’s Santa Map & Videos

Using high speed photography, along with fighter jets, satellites in orbit and radar installations to locate him, NORAD films Santa Claus as he passes over landmarks in countries around the world. A map shows where he’s been:

Above, you can see I snapped this image when Father Christmas was in Jakarta, Indonesia — as shown at the bottom of the screenshot.

If you click on Santa himself, you’ll see his current location:

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Click on any of the gift icons to read more about places he’s already been to:

Finally, select any of the video camera icons you’ll see over select cities, and you’ll be treated to Santa doing a fly-by of local landmarks:

There’s also a Videos page that lists videos of all places that Santa has visited so far:

A collection of videos can also be found on the NORAD Tracks Santa YouTube channel.

Call Or Email For Santa’s Location

I’m old school. I like the fact that NORAD still allows you to call by phone and talk to a real person about where Santa is. Be sure to wish the volunteer tracker a Merry Christmas! The phone numbers are:

Within US: (877) HI NORAD / (877) 446-6723 International: +1 (719) 556-5211 (Cost may be incurred) Hearing Impaired should contact their service provider.

You can also email noradtrackssanta@gmail.com to get an update. Personalized, even!

More information about calling or emailing for the location of Santa Claus, including hours of operation, are here.

Real-Time Santa Tracking Via Google Earth

In previous years, Google released a special file for Google Earth users, to track Santa. This year, it seems to be providing only a special plug-in that allows Google Earth viewing via your web browser. But, that’s pretty cool.

Visit this page with your web browser, and you’ll be prompted to install a plug-in. After that’s done, you’ll see Santa in real-time, as he flies above the earth:

I like how when he comes to a major city, suddenly he zips around delivering presents so fast that all you see is a series of red streaks.

By the way, Google Maps itself has gotten dressed up for the holidays, or at least the Street View “Pegman” has:

Santa Pegman Comes To Google Maps is our story that explains more about this.

Santa By Google Maps For Mobile

On the move? Google makes it possible to track Santa using your smartphone. If you have Google Maps For Mobile (which is offered for Android, iPhone and BlackBerry), just do a search for “santa,” and his current location will be shown:

OK, it’s not the greatest presentation in the world, but it’s easy, and it works.

Santa By iPhone

After some exploration, I think the Santa Tracker 2010 from Talus Media is your best bet for the iPhone. It’s only $1, and it pinpoints your location (that yellow spot on the left), Santa’s location (the red dot on the right) and presents a countdown clock:

I especially like “The List” feature, which has a “naughty” and “nice” list. Using the main settings menu in the iPhone, you can add your kids to either list. I like to tease them and switch them around throughout the day.

Santa By Android & BlackBerry

I can’t link directly to Android applications because the online version of the Android Market makes it nearly impossible to find things there (no way to search, on a market backed by Google?). However, here’s a rundown on what you might try when searching through the market from your Android phone.

Santa Tracker Live from Active9.com brings the NORAD Santa Map I highlighted above into your Android phone. However, I found that the Flash videos didn’t work — and this using a Nexus S phone with the latest Android 2.3 software. The app is also very sluggish, but at least you can see Santa on it.

Santa Tracker from Value Apps simple draws a short line from wherever you are to a point indicating that Santa isn’t that far away. Handy if you’re trying to get the kids into bed earlier, especially since NORAD’s system is useless for building excitement that Santa is about to approach, for kids that are put to bed in the early event. With NORAD, it’s assumed Santa only approaches at midnight. Every year, I wish it offered a time-shifting ability. Anyway, the app is slow, buggy but free.

Santa Tracker Christmas is a $2 app from Onteca. It offers a pretty boring current location view. The past sightings are kind of need, with various images of Santa caught in flight in black and white. I wouldn’t recommend buying it, however.

Santa Spotter from Ogilvy Group is kind of neat, in that you swing your phone around toward the sky to spot Santa. Problem is, you never really seem to find him. You do have constellations that light up, which is pretty cool. And, it’s free. It kept crashing on my Nexus S. On my Samsung Fascinate running Android 2.1, it worked fine.

As for the BlackBerry, you might try Santa Tracker For BlackBerry. I haven’t used it, but CrackBerry has a review of this $3 app.

Other Santa Trackers

As I said when starting this article, most alternative Santa trackers out there just seem to point back to the NORAD site. This year, I found only one providing a worthwhile alternative experience, Santa T:

Nothing fancy — but I like how the single page view can give little kids the idea they are sitting at a radar control station. The time countdown is automatic. Santa T probably looks at your computer’s IP address to determine its time zone.

Santa Claus & Twitter

Got Twitter? Then you’ve got Santa tracking. NORAD provides update through Twitter via the @noradsanta account:

Santa Claus & Facebook

Yes, Santa is one of the 500 million people using Facebook! OK, actually, it’s NORAD again, providing updates through the NORAD Santa fan page:

Merry Christmas!

To everyone celebrating Christmas, here’s wishing you a great one.

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!

Google’s sent a few preview pictures of how Santa Pegman will appear beginning tomorrow at 2am Eastern time through December 25. Here’s a shot at Rockefeller Center:

Santa Pegman is down there in the lower right-hand corner. Here he is again at San Francisco’s Union Square:

And one more, from Santa Claus, Indiana:

Google’s also put out a blog post reminding people about the Google-backed NORAD Santa Tracker that kicks off tomorrow.

For a detailed look at that, see our Where Is Santa Claus? The 2010 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Google Earth post.

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!

NORAD — the North American Aerospace Defense Command — has been tracking St. Nick for over 50 years. In 2007, it teamed up with Google formally on the project. Google announced that this year’s site has gone live today.

Currently at the site, you’ll find Santa’s Village, where kids can click on different places and play little games. There’s also a countdown clock, so that you can tell to the second when Father Christmas begins his Christmas Eve flight:

On Christmas Eve, the site will really come to life. You’ll be able to track Kris Kringle on a map and watch videos of where’s he’s been. Here’s a highlight video of his trip last year:

Beyond the site, you’ll be able to track Santa Claus using your phone, through Google Earth, via email or even by making a telephone call.

I’ll return with a full rundown on all the action on December 24, with links and an illustrated guide to everything that’s live, along with tips on other ways to track Santa. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!

Merry Christmas! Christmas Eve, that is, and you know what that means. Santa Claus is coming to town! How long until he arrives? Can you spot him in flight? Yes, Virginia. There is a Santa Claus, and he can be tracked. Below, a round-up of Santa trackers.

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!

Most of the ones below come from NORAD, the missile tracking people. They’ve been tracking Santa for more than 50 years, thanks to a phone number that was misprinted (and sadly, the man who answered that phone and kicked this entire thing off died earlier this year — though the tradition continues).

NORAD has developed a near monopoly on Santa tracking. Having written about the Santa Claus tracking space for several years, I found this year that alternative services that had existed now just seem to point to NORAD these days. NORAD does its thing through a partnership with Google that began formally in 2007.

The entire “suite” of NORAD’s tracking tools can be found at the NORAD Santa site, which is available in a variety of languages. Specific options are listed below, linking to the English-language instructions, along with a few alternatives that still exist out there. Need info for a different language? Start from the NORAD site’s home page.

NORAD’s Santa Cam Videos & Map

Using high speed photography, combined with fighter jets, satellites and radar to locate him, NORAD manages to capture Jolly St. Nick as he passes over landmarks in countries around the world.

On Christmas Eve, on the NORAD Santa’s main page, you’ll see a map like this:

Click on a gift to get information about a place that Father Christmas has visited. As for those video icons, click on one of those to see him captured in flight:

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On the NORAD site, you’ll all the videos of Santa that have been posted so far here:

As the day progresses, more videos are added, usually a new one each hour. You’ll also find a collection of Santa Cam videos on the NORAD Tracks Santa YouTube channel:

Call Or Email For Santa’s Whereabouts

Despite advances in the internet, Santa tracking is backwards compatible with older technologies. You email NORAD or even call them for an update. Email has been active from before Christmas Eve.

The call center, shown above, opens at 5am Eastern time.

Both the email address and telephone number can be found here

Santa Tracking In 3D On Google Earth

No 3D glasses are necessary to spot Santa flying around a virtual representation of the planet. Just download Google Earth, then go to this page at NORAD Santa to download a file that will let you watch him flying within the program. Once installed, you should automatically be taken to his latest location, and you can also see where he’s been.

Don’t want to download the entire Google Earth program? That’s OK. There’s a plug-in you can use that Google says will let you see Santa right within your web browser. Get the plug-in, then go to that mapping page at NORAD Santa, and you’ll see where he’s at.

Track Santa On Your Mobile Phone

Want to track Santa while you’re on the move. There’s an app for that. Well, there’s a link you can get sent to your mobile phone that will bring up Santa in Google Maps. It works for a wide variety of smart phones (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Nokia phones were all supported last year).

Just use the page here. You can also go to a special mobile site for tracking St. Nicholas.

Of course, there really are phone apps for tracking Santa. On the iPhone, just search for “santa tracker” to bring up a variety of them. Unlike last year, I didn’t find free ones. The Talus Santa Tracker, more info here, is only $1. I found it crashed a lot and wasn’t that impressive, though you can customize the naughty and nice list, which my kids got a kick out of.

There’s also the Earthscape tracker, more info here. It’s also $1. I found this pretty cool when I used it last year. The image above shows how it looked last year, giving you a little countdown in time to your location.

Android users, sorry. I found no Santa tracking apps in the Android market. But you can use the Google Maps tool.

Santa Claus On Twitter

Yes, Santa’s on Twitter. Actually, it’s NORAD tracking Santa and providing updates on Twitter. Above is an example from last year, showing you what to expect. You can follow him here.

Santa On Facebook

NORAD also provides Santa tracking for those on Facebook, though a Facebook fan page. Become a fan here and get updates flowing into your Facebook stream.

Beyond NORAD

Looking for yet more Santa tracking tools? The Dallas/Fort Worth Airport is offering one, which I like because it has a cool looking radar screen. A screenshot is shown above.

The Today Show is also providing a Santa tracker plotted through Bing’s maps. You’ll find it here, and a screenshot is above. It’s pretty rudimentary. A Santa icon shows where he’s been. Click on Santa, and you get a image of him in flight — which to me, look very much like screenshots of images I’ve seen on the NORAD site in the past.

Time Shift Santa, Please!

I make the same plea to NORAD every year, and my wish never comes true. I’ll repeat it once again, in hopes it might happen for 2010.

My children, like many others, go to bed well before midnight on Christmas Eve. It’s great to get them tucked in by showing how Santa is getting close. But that means you need to show Santa flying around your area, not an area that’s several time zones away.

Please, let parents time shift. Let us tell you we’re in a particular location, and allow us to get an early glimpse of Santa approaching our area!

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!

Either I or someone else here at Search Engine Land will update this post with a deeper review, but my understanding from Google — which coproduces the site — is that everything is virtually the same as last year. The main difference is that there will be a plug-in for Google Earth on the web you can use, rather than having to use Google Earth through an application. Google writes about that more here.

Come the big night, I’ll also do an updated post with the latest info. Happy Holidays!

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: For The Holidays, Google Has NORAD Tracks Santa & Bing Has Magical Holiday Calendar.

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: For The Holidays, Google Has NORAD Tracks Santa & Bing Has Magical Holiday Calendar.

It’s Christmas Eve, and that means Santa Claus is out doing his run. But where is Santa right now? Thanks to the internet, there’s a huge number of ways to get Santa sightings. Below, a summary that covers online video sightings, Santa’s phone number (apparently he can talk while driving), email updates, tracking him via your mobile phone and yes, even getting Twitter updates:

1) Video Clips From NORAD Tracks Santa

They’ve been doing it for over 50 years now, and the NORAD site focuses on showing you a map of Santa’s location along with a video clip of him caught by radar-controlled cameras as he flies past various locations. See past places he’s been to today here. Be sure to read our Santa Tracker 2008: Google & NORAD Team Up Again post for an in-depth look at the NORAD site.

2) Call / Email NORAD

Want to go old school to track Santa? You can email Santa or call Santa for updates, courtesy of NORAD.

3) Google Earth: Track Santa In 3D

If you have the Google Earth mapping software, this page explains the Google Earth Santa Tracker, which plots NORAD’s tracking data into it for you. Again, see Santa Tracker 2008: Google & NORAD Team Up Again for more details about this.

4) Microsoft Virtual Earth Live Search Maps 3D Tracking

Playing catch-up to Google, which hosts the NORAD site, Microsoft is trying to step it up this year with its own 3D Santa finder service. You’ll find it here. It operates using aerial data from Live Search Maps (AKA Microsoft Virtual Earth). You have to have the Virtual Earth 3D plug-in installed. Firefox users and Mac users need not apply — Microsoft doesn’t support either with its tracker. Bah, humbug. For those who don’t meet those requirements, Microsoft says to try this page for an automated look. I did; it didn’t work. The screenshots look cool, but when I tried it, I didn’t see any way to go back to previous locations he’s visited. But I was running it through Windows via my Mac, and the app just ground to a halt. It might have been too processor intensive for a virtual Windows setup.

5) Phone Tracking With Google Maps

If you have Google Maps Mobile on your phone (iPhone, T-Mobile Android G1, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile or Nokia are all supported), there’s a special Santa search command to bring up his location. Just search for “norad santa” to get an update on where is Santa Claus. Handy for those out doing last minute shopping! But a bit disappointing. The photo above is blurry, but you get the point hopefully — Santa is tracked by only showing the name of a place. No sleigh, not hat, nothing that screams out Santa.

6) Earthscape iPhone Tracking

Got an iPhone? Earthscape has a free app that shows you exactly where Santa is. I’ve downloaded it — it’s super cool.

7) SantaClaus.net Radar Cam

Pretty basic compared to NORAD, this Santa watch tool just superimposes the hard-working guy generally over a part of the world. But if you want a “Santa radar” style experience, you get it with the little radar dishes and radar screens around his image.

8) Santa Twitters His Location

That’s right, Jolly Olde Saint Nick is now on Twitter. Run by NORAD, he’s not only Twittering his location but also replying to people. Awesome!

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: For The Holidays, Google Has NORAD Tracks Santa & Bing Has Magical Holiday Calendar.

My favorite Christmas activity

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!

NORAD — you know, the missile tracking people — might seem an unlikely group to track Santa. But they’ve been doing it for over 50 years, thanks to a misprinted phone number.

Currently the site has little more than a countdown until Christmas and a Club Penguin-like online game area. On Christmas Eve, that will change dramatically. To better understand, see my Instructions On Tracking Santa With NORAD & Google: The 2007 Edition post from last year.

To summarize from that post, Santa’s route will be illustrated based on the current time, as in this screenshot from last year:

In some places, you see a video icon. Clicking on them will make a window appear where you can play a video, like this:

Below is a video of some of the various locations all blended into one:

All these videos will eventually get posted to the NORAD channel on YouTube, but you’ll get disappointed if you head there now. The channel has been disabled no doubt to prevent people from getting an early look. Similarly, the playlist of videos from last year is still alive but none of the videos will actually play.

Aside from the videos, NORAD will also offer a special file for use with Google Earth, so that he can be tracked in 3D, like this:

The file will be posted here. Right now, there’s only a link to download Google Earth, but the additional file you need will be posted on Christmas Eve. Can’t wait? You might try using last year’s file here.

Out-and-about on Christmas Eve? There’s a new mobile Santa tracking option being offered for anyone with Google Maps For Mobile.

And feeling old fashioned about your phone? You can actually just call and talk to a real live human being for a Santa update. Email is also accepted.

Finally, a last public plea. As I said last year, I’m begging NORAD to offer “parent mode” for the site. Santa only appears near a particular location an hour before midnight. But little kids often go to sleep well before midnight. If you want them in bed on Christmas Eve, showing them that Santa is flying nearby is an excellent way get them to scurry off under the covers.

So please, NORAD, let me say it’s bedtime for my particular location and see Santa flying nearby when it makes sense for me (and other parents).

Happy Holidays!

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!

I’m a serious Santa Claus tracker. When I was a kid, I used to get Santa updates from NORAD (the US missile tracking people) via the radio. As an adult, I’ve long used the NORAD Tracks Santa web site to keep up with St. Nick, Father Christmas, or whatever your local name is for the jolly red suited man. This year, Google officially partnered with NORAD, bringing the NORAD Santa tracking site some of its most substantial changes in years. Some of the changes I like, and some make me think I wish Google had stayed out of it. Here’s how to use the site, what’s different, and what’s cool.

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!

Here’s what you currently see at the NORAD site, after making your language choice:

Santa was off the northeast coast of Australia when I made the screenshot above. Notice the little “Next update” timer in the bottom right corner? After five minutes, the view automatically changes. As I watched, he moved from Queensland down to Brisbane.

This is a big advancement over last year, where the map would get updated once per hour, with Santa moving to only 24 locations across the world. As a parent, it’s terrible if Santa’s not flying over your particular state, country, or region when you look with the kids. This change increases the odds that little ones will see he’s nearby.

Click on the map and you can get all interactive with what Santa’s been doing:

See all the little present boxes all over the map? They show you places that Santa’s visited. If you click on one, you get a pop-up window telling you to learn more about that particular area on Google:

The place pop-ups are pretty disappointing. All they do is generate a search query on Google like this: Yuzhno Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Island. The folks behind the site clearly knew various places were going to be featured. How about linking to some human-crafted information, rather than results that aren’t going to be particularly kid-friendly. Which do you want the tots to see? This, as they currently get?

Or this type of thing, which Google Maps does for Mount Fuji:

With a little more work, these pop-ups would have been more than a cheap way to send Google some search traffic.

In some places, you see a video icon. That makes the pop-up show an embedded video like this:

The videos of Santa flying by various locations are the heart of NORAD’s site. This is what it has been known for over the past years. This is what I have depended on, the ability to show my kids that he’s nearby in video so they get a thrill and scamper off to bed.

In the past, these were files hosted by NORAD itself, which you’d play in various desktop media players. Now they’re all Google YouTube hosted. Of course.

I wish when you came into the NORAD main map page that the most recent video was prominently highlighted with an embedded player, rather than being an easy to miss icon in the map. I suspect many people are missing the videos because of the poor placement. Indeed, when I looked at the video for Santa flying over Sydney, only 213 views had happened.

Anyway, it’s a much better experience to watch the videos on YouTube itself, rather than via the map. There are two ways to do this. First, if you watch the video in the map, click on it, and you’ll be taken to a larger version on YouTube.

Alternatively, NORAD has a YouTube channel here. It’s poorly designed, in that the latest videos of Santa flying are NOT listed first:

Seriously — the latest video is from one week ago? And yet I just watched one via on YouTube from an hour ago? Something’s not right.

It’s not really any better if you go to the dedicated video list page here. At first, I thought the most recent videos are listed at the very end. But instead, they move around with no apparent reason, and the titles are all truncated, making it difficult to spot a particular area at-a-glance.

Here are links to his journeys so far that I’ve compiled:

• NORAD Tracks Santa – First Sighting
• NORAD Tracks Santa – Auckland, New Zealand
• NORAD Tracks Santa – Sydney, Australia
• NORAD Tracks Santa – Mt. Fuji, Japan

NOTE: THE CHANNEL HAS SINCE GAINED A MUCH NICER PLAYLIST HERE THAT CHRONOLOGICALLY LISTS ALL THE PLACES SANTA HAS BEEN.

For those who want a quick preview, here’s how the flight over New Zealand looked:

The use of YouTube is great for those on low-bandwidth, because you no longer need to download a large file. But it’s TERRIBLE FOR TIME SHIFTING PARENTS. As I wrote before, I used to be able to guess at the location of videos before they were posted online. That was helpful for a dad who wanted his kids in bed around 9pm, rather than having to wait until the video for our area to appear at 11pm. But now that the videos are hidden on YouTube, I can’t find a way to locate them before a public release. Heck, as I’ve covered, just locating them at all is hard enough.

Google hasn’t just co-opted Santa into its search results and YouTube. Google Earth is playing a role. If you’ve downloaded Google Earth (here), you can then download this special Santa Tracker file. That zooms you to Santa’s current location, like this:

Don’t see him? Make sure you have this enabled in your Places settings on the left-side of the application:

About every minute or so, Google Earth automatically flies you to Santa’s new location. Cool. Very cool — way better than watching him on that “interactive” Google Map on the NORAD site. But not so cool is that all the places he’s already been — along with the videos — aren’t listed as a layer that you can enable.

Actually, there is a non-intuitive way to do this. PARENTS — MAKE YOUR KIDS TURN AWAY NOW!

If you know a place that Santa’s already been, such as “Yuzhno Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Island,” search for that in Google Earth. You get a pop-up like this:

See that “santa_flight.kmz” link with 290 Placemarks shown? That’s Santa’s route for this year. If you click on that or directly download the additional file here, you get a new layer showing his entire route:

That Santa is one busy dude! By the way, I’ve used the same file to make a version you can view on Google Maps here.

In the past, Santa’s flown right past our house near Stonehenge, but this year, it looks like his route’s just taking him to London, then onward to Scotland:

Next to the map I mentioned way above, on the NORAD site itself, you’ll find phone numbers for calling NORAD Santa Tracker for a live update. I called, expected a recording. Nope — it was a real, live person! You can also email the trackers, which I also tried, asking where he was. About an hour later, I got an update.

Overall, despite the effort that’s gone into the NORAD site this year, I can’t help but feel disappointed. Rather than Google improving the site, it feels like they haphazardly slapped Santa tracking into a few Google products without much usability testing. Speaking as a parent, we deserve better than this. In particular:

• I should be able to hit the NORAD site and clearly find where Santa is, has been, and all the related videos without having to navigate through the confusing mess that is the NORAD YouTube channel.
• If I download a Santa tracking file for Google Earth, I shouldn’t have to stumble upon a second one that lists his expected route.
• I should also be able to go into “parent mode” and hit the video for my area at the bedtime I decide for my area — not 11pm.

Also, the animations currently showing seem to be the same ones used for 2006. It would have been nice to see fresh ones made for 2007 for new locations, along with some of the old ones for different locations brought back. England has cities outside London — and in the past, it was a thrill when our little area lucked out to have its own video. The same is true for anyone who lives outside the standard metropolitan areas that always get picked. I certainly can’t wait to see Santa one day fly into Newport Beach!

Let me add that it really pains me to write criticism of the NORAD site, because I dearly love what NORAD has done over the years and the work done by volunteers there. Check out the history of the site here. And despite this year’s flaws, there’s plenty for your kids to love. I’ll probably get Google Earth going on our family computer since it’s far better than watching those icons on Google Maps.

NOTE: For news on the 2011 Santa Tracker, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2011 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Your Phone!