Google Santa Tracker

Google Santa Tracker is an annual Christmas-themed entertainment program first launched in 2004 by Google, Inc. that claims to allow users to track the imaginary Santa Claus on Christmas Eve,[2] and before that also allows users to play, watch, and learn through little activities that are added daily from the start of December. It was inspired by, but has surpassed, its rival NORAD Tracks Santa, which has operated since 1955.[3][4]

Google Santa Tracker
Santa heading to Christchurch, New Zealand on the tracker of 2015.
Type of site
Santa tracker and entertainment site
OwnerGoogle, Inc.
URLsantatracker.google.com (US)
CommercialYes
LaunchedDecember 1, 2004 (2004-12-01)[1]
Current statusActive

As Santa Claus is imaginary, the website merely simulates the movement of Santa Claus and displays a predetermined route to users.

History

In early 2004, Google saw the NORAD Tracks Santa service and said they "felt like it could be better for users to 'visualize' where Santa is currently at". So, in 2004, after Keyhole, Inc. was acquired by Google, they followed Santa in the "Keyhole Earth Viewer" (Google Earth's original name) and they called it the "Keyhole Santa Radar". The audience was small due to Keyhole being a "pay-for".

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 nonprofit organizations Khan Academy and Code.org.[5] The 2018 Google Santa Tracker page also allowed users to use the Google Assistant to call Santa or hear a Christmas story.[6] A Santa Tracker Android app is available for download in the Google Play Store.

In December 2019, the santatracker.google.com website had 30.8 million visitors. [7]

How the website works

Every Christmas Eve, the Google Santa Tracker begins to "track" Santa at about midnight in the furthest east time zone. The map shows Santa alternating between traveling and handing out presents in cities. Santa "travels" approximately one time zone west per hour. Counters show viewers how far Santa has "traveled", how long until he reaches the viewer's city, the distance from the viewer's city, and the total number of presents delivered. Santa is depicted as having helpers with him, including the standard reindeer and elves, along with penguins and a snowman.

For each city that Santa visits, 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 Santa or his helpers in the foreground. The temperature of the city is accurately given using data from The 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.[8]

The 2016 site also featured other pictures that labeled "This Just In". These resembled photos taken on social media websites, and the photos were usually of Santa and his helpers doing various things, including Santa and his helpers imitating the cover of Abbey Road, Santa delivering presents, and Santa and an elf taking a selfie. Users can also watch videos and play games.[9]

The Santa Tracker is locked until December 24. However, site visitors can interact with the games and lesson plans in Santa's Village beginning from the start of December.

References
  1. McClendon, Brian (December 23, 2008). "Tracking Santa: the backstory".
  2. Bruner, Raisa (December 24, 2018). "Where in the World Is Santa? Find Out With the Santa Tracker". Time. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  3. "Santatracker.google.com Analytics". SimilarWeb. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  4. https://www.similarweb.com/website/santatracker.google.com?competitors=noradsanta.org
  5. "Press: About Santa Tracker". Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  6. Li, Abner (December 4, 2018). "Google Santa Tracker live w/ Maps integration as 'Call Santa' updated for Smart Displays". 9to5Google. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  7. https://www.similarweb.com/website/santatracker.google.com
  8. "Google Santa Tracker - Stats". Retrieved November 15, 2017.
  9. "Google Santa Tracker - Live Feed". Retrieved November 15, 2017.
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