Webware

Read all 'NORAD' posts in Webware
December 23, 2008 3:53 PM PST

Santa must be real, he's on Google Earth

by Elinor Mills
  • 18 comments

Track Santa Claus' Christmas Eve sleigh via Google Earth.

(Credit: Google)

As it has for the past four years, Google will be mapping Santa Claus' trek from the icy North Pole to rooftops around the globe on Christmas Eve. But this year, good girls and boys can track their gifts via mobile phones and Twitter, too.

Starting at 3 a.m. PST on Wednesday, a Google Map with Santa's current location will be displayed on the NORAD Santa Web site, operated by Google and the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Santa fans can also track his movements in 3D in Google Earth (download) by downloading a special NORAD Tracks Santa KML. iGoogle users can add a NORAD Tracks Santa gadget to their iGoogle page.

Google will be displaying high-resolution "Santa Cam" video of the gift-laden airborne sleigh. For locations without video, photos from Panoramio will be displayed in Google Maps.

And for the first time, people can track Santa's journey on mobile phones with Google Maps for Mobile and follow him on Twitter by adding "@noradsanta."

You can read the history of Google's Santa tracking efforts on the Official Google Blog.

Google became NORAD's official Santa Tracking technology partner last year. NORAD has been tracking Santa for about 50 years.

  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement

About Webware

Say No to boxed software! The future of applications is online delivery and access. Software is passé. Webware is the new way to get things done.

Add this feed to your online news reader

Webware topics

15 sites that went kaput in 2009

Web sites launch all the time, but they also shut their doors. We highlight 15 that bit the dust this year.

Top 10 news stories of the decade

Let the debate begin: Was the iPhone more important than iTunes? Was anything bigger than Google finding a great business model? CNET offers its list of the 10 most important stories of the '00s.

Most Discussed

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right