NORAD Santa Tracker Starts Its Countdown

By Amy Gesenhues

Published: December 2, 2015 at 3:19 pm

The official Santa Tracker from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has begun its countdown, with Microsoft and Bing listed among its many corporate contributors.

According to the announcement, a search for @NORADSanta will return results for the NORAD Santa Tracker website, which includes the countdown calculator and a map of Santa’s North Pole Village, along with holiday-themed games, movies, music, library and gift shop.

Available in eight different languages — English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Chinese — the NORAD Santa Tracker website can be accessed on desktop and via the Windows, Apple and Google Play stores.

[blockquote cite = “NORAD News Release”]Any time on Dec. 24, Windows Phone users can ask Cortana for Santa’s location, and OnStar subscribers can press the OnStar button in their vehicles to locate Santa.[/blockquote]

This is the 60th year NORAD has tracked Santa. The program originally started when a call to the wrong number resulted in the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operation hotline checking their radar systems for signs of Santa making his way south from the North Pole.

NORAD isn’t the only team tracking Santa; as usual, Google is also on the case with the launch of its Santa Tracker and Santa Village today.

Postscript: A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the NORAD Santa Tracker website is powered by Bing. Also, if you ask Cortana “Where is Santa,” she will respond and help track him.

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Apple Chinese Cortana English French German language Google Google Santa Tracker Italian Japanese Microsoft Microsoft Bing Microsoft Windows NORAD Tracks Santa North Pole OnStar Portuguese Santa Claus Spanish Windows Phone

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Contributing authors are chosen for their expertise and work under the oversight of the editorial staff. Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush. The contributor was not asked to mention Semrush; the opinions expressed are their own.

About the author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.