Santa tracked by Google, Microsoft

The North American Aerospace Defense Command usually focuses on USA airspace threats, but switches gears each year to help children track Santa’s journey.

NORAD’s 60th year of tracking Santa involves more than the military.

NORAD chose to run with the idea, and now has hundreds of volunteers working around the clock, tracking Santa’s every move. All night, Shoup and his team fielded calls, giving kids details about Santa’s location as he and his reindeer flew through the sky to deliver gifts to children.

NORAD took over Santa-tracking duties when it was created in 1958.

The Santa Tracker hotline can be reached at 1(877)446-6723 starting at 5 a.m. EST on December 24th and continuing through 5 a.m. ET on December 25th. They also spend Christmas Eve serving as Santa trackers.

In 1955, a Colorado Springs-based Sears, Roebuck & Co. advertisement misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa. But the number was incorrect, and instead went to a phone inside NORAD’s predecessor agency, the Continental Air Defense Command.

This year, through Bing, children can “free roam” the map and learn about the places Santa has visited. So staff checked the radar for signs of Santa making his way south from the North Pole and gave kids updates on his location. Microsoft has once again partnered with NORAD for the ‘ Official NORAD Santa Tracker’.

The website is available in eight languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Chinese.

Well one thing is for sure Santa seemed to exist in back in 1800s.

Google and Microsoft are continuing their separate Internet holiday traditions that allow children, no matter how grown up they might be, to track Santa online as he makes his way around the world on Christmas Eve.