Google Santa Tracker
 | |
 Homepage on December 25, 2022 | |
Type of site | Santa tracking simulation, education and entertainment website |
|---|---|
| Owner | Google, Inc. |
| URL | santatracker |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | December 1, 2004[1] |
| Current status | Active |
Google Santa Trackeris an annual Christmas-themed entertainment website first launched in 2004 byGooglethatsimulates[2][3]the tracking of thelegendarycharacter[4]Santa ClausonChristmas Eve,[5]using predetermined location information.[2]It also allows users to play, watch, and learn through various Christmas-themed activities. The service was inspired byNORAD Tracks Santa,which has operated since 1955.
History
[edit]In early 2004, employees at Google stated that "they felt like it could be better for users to 'visualize' where Santa is currently at" in response to theNORAD Tracks Santaservice.[6]Later that year,Keyhole, Inc.was acquired byGooglein 2004, they launched a paid service titled the "Keyhole Earth Viewer" (Google Earth's original name), where they would launch a service within the program titled the "Keyhole Santa Radar". The service received 25,000 viewers in its debut, and 250,000 the following year.[7]
In 2007,NORADand Google formally announced a partnership which would last for the next five years.
In 2015, Google announced that Google Santa Tracker is now open source throughGitHub.[8]This would mean that its users could install Google Santa Tracker as anAPK fileonAndroiddevices. They also announced a handful of custom watch faces forAndroid Wear.
In 2018, the Santa Tracker added several features for students and educators. On December 4, 2018, the website fully launched a suite of games and lesson plans about coding basics and Christmas traditions around the world. The site also features information about non-profit organizationsKhan AcademyandCode.org.[9]The 2018 Google Santa Tracker page also allowed users to use theGoogle Assistantto simulate a call to Santa or listen to a Christmas story.[10]The website had 42.2 million visitors in December of that year.[11]The website claimed that Santa had delivered 5.6 billion presents in 2019.[12]
In 2020 and 2021, during theCOVID-19 pandemic,Santa,Mrs. Clausand theelveswere depicted to bewearing face masks.[13]The face masks were removed in 2022.
Website
[edit]Every Christmas Eve, the Google Santa Tracker begins to simulate tracking of Santa at about midnight in thefurthest east time zone(10:00amUTC). The map shows Santa alternating between traveling and handing out presents in cities. Santa appears to travel approximately one time zone west per hour. Santa usually arrives at cities around midnight.Counterssimulate to viewers how far Santa has traveled so far, how long until he reaches the viewer's city on the map, the distance from the viewer's city, and the total number of presents delivered. Santa is depicted as having helpers with him, including the standardreindeerand elves, along withpenguinsand asnowman.
For each city that Santa is said to visit, the first few paragraphs of the corresponding Wikipedia article are shown, giving an overview of the city. The website also shows photos with the city in the background and a depiction of Santa or his helpers in the foreground. The temperature of the city is accurately given using data fromThe Weather Channel.Not every large city is visited; some large cities close to other large cities are skipped, while smaller cities that are far from any other populated place are occasionally featured. Even when Santa is traveling, the counter showing the total presents delivered increases, but at a slower rate than when Santa is in a city. This rate is faster or slower depending on the population of the city Santa is in.[14]
The 2016 site also featured a "This Just In" section. This section features photos resembling those taken onsocial mediawebsites, which feature Santa and his helpers partaking in various activities, including imitating the cover ofAbbey Road,delivering presents, and takingselfies.Users can also watch animated sketches and play games.[15]
References
[edit]- ^McClendon, Brian (December 23, 2008)."Tracking Santa: the backstory".Blogspot.
- ^ab"Are the locations pre-programmed into the source code, or is the fake location of Santa Claus processed server-side? · Issue #39 · google/santa-tracker-android".GitHub.RetrievedNovember 16,2020.
- ^"How to Create your own Santa Tracker with Gatsby and React Leaflet".freeCodeCamp.org.December 11, 2019.RetrievedDecember 25,2020.
- ^"Santa Claus | History, Legend, & Facts".Encyclopedia Britannica.RetrievedNovember 16,2020.
- ^Bruner, Raisa (December 24, 2018)."Where in the World Is Santa? Find Out With the Santa Tracker".Time.RetrievedDecember 25,2018.
- ^"Tracking Santa: the backstory".Official Google Blog.RetrievedDecember 23,2022.
- ^Sullivan, Danny (December 22, 2014)."How Google Became A Santa Tracker Tradition To Rival NORAD".MarTech.RetrievedDecember 23,2022.
- ^"Ho Ho Ho! Google's Santa Tracker is now open source".RetrievedDecember 23,2022.
- ^"Press: About Santa Tracker".Archived fromthe originalon December 24, 2017.RetrievedDecember 4,2018.
- ^Li, Abner (December 4, 2018)."Google Santa Tracker live w/ Maps integration as 'Call Santa' updated for Smart Displays".9to5Google.RetrievedDecember 4,2018.
- ^"Santatracker.google: February 2019 Overview".SimilarWeb. March 2019. Archived fromthe originalon March 27, 2019.
- ^"Track Santa 2019: Where is Santa now?".al.December 24, 2019.RetrievedDecember 28,2020.
- ^"CNET Google Santa Tracker".Archived fromthe originalon December 24, 2020.RetrievedDecember 24,2020.
- ^"Google Santa Tracker – Stats".RetrievedNovember 15,2017.
- ^"Google Santa Tracker – Live Feed".RetrievedNovember 15,2017.
