Santa Tracker Marketplace



According to Gerry Bowler, a history professor at the University of Manitoba and the author of Santa Claus: A Biography, of The World Encyclopedia of Christmas, and webinar host at the University of Manitoba on Christmas and Santa Claus, the NORAD Tracks Santa Program and the various Santa Tracking efforts are "one of the few modern additions to the centuries-old Santa Claus story that have stuck. . . NORAD (and others) . . ., take(s) an essential element of the Santa Claus story - his travels on Christmas Eve – and looks at it through a technological lens. It brought Santa into the 20th century." And into the 21st century as well.

Over the years there have been a number of websites created by various organizations to track Santa Claus. Some, such as the NORAD Tracks Santa Program and the Airservices Australia Tracks Santa Project, have endured. Others have fallen by the wayside into the "dustbin of history." One, the GLONASS Tracks Father Frost Project is rapidly capturing the underserved Russian language speaking "Santa Tracking" or "Winter Holiday Wizard" watching market segment.

Major Santa Tracker Players
The major Santa Tracker players are:


 * NORAD Tracks Santa Program. As the first decade of the 21st century concludes, the NORAD Tracks Santa Program has become recognized as the "preeminent" and oldest (since December 24, 1955) Santa Tracking effort in the Santa Tracker marketplace. This is made possible by having an excellent service, that is well publicized world-wide, has and continues to use leading edge technology, has devoted fans, and very supportive partners and corporate sponsors.


 * GLONASS Tracks Father Frost Project. At the moment, the major serious competition to the NORAD Tracks Santa program is from the Russian Federation’s GLONASS Tracks Father Frost Project, which started in 2009.

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 * Airservices Australia Tracks Santa Project. During Mid-December thru Christmas Day from the year 2005 to the present, the Airservices Australia has hosted a Santa tracker with a set of activities and games similar to that offered by the NORAD Tracks Santa Countdown Village, at a webpage similar to http://mirror.airservicesaustralia.com/santa11/

Other Current Santa Tracker Efforts
Other current (subject to change) Santa Tracker efforts present and past include:

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 * The MSNBC and Bing Maps Platform Tracks Santa Project. After the successful displacement of America Online and Microsoft Virtual Earth (now named the Bing Maps Platform) by the Google and Booz Allen Hamilton alliance in 2007, MSNBC and Microsoft’s Bing Maps Platform) got together in 2008 to provide a Christmas Eve Santa Claus tracker in 3-D. On Christmas Eve from the year 2008 to the present, the MSNBC and Bing Maps Platform Tracks Santa Project hosts a Santa tracker, which in many ways has been devolving since 2008. For Christmas Eve 2010 and 2011, the Santa Tracker is at this webpage of http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40538562 without a two-dimensional tracking map and without three-dimensional capabilities. On Christmas Eve 2009, the Santa Tracker was at this webpage of http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34211032/ns/today-holiday_guide/ with a two-dimensional tracking map and without three-dimensional capabilities. On Christmas Eve 2008, the Santa Tracker was at this webpage of http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28241481/ with a two-dimensional traking map and with full three-dimensional capabilities.    The MSNBC and Bing Maps Platform Tracks Santa Project uses the the locations and still photos from the NORAD Tracks Santa website of around 2005.

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 * Santa Update Project. On Christmas Eve from the year 1991 for the project and using the current website from 2002 to the present, the Santa Update Project hosts a Santa tracker at this webpage of http://www.santaupdate.com/. This Santa tracker provides periodic news feeds associated with Santa.

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 * Santa-t Project. A recent entrant to the Santa Tracking marketplace in 2010. Santa-t is a single page view that is similar to radar control station with an automatic time countdown at this webpage of http://www.santa-t.com/.

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 * Los Alamos National Laboratory – Tracking Santa Project. Since December 24, 1997 the satellite tracking group from the International, Space & Response (ISR) Division of the Los Alamos National Laboratory has been tracking Santa Claus' whereabouts on Christmas Eve at this webpage of http://santa.lanl.gov/ as well as assisting the NORAD Tracks Santa program.  The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s founding and current Santa Tracker Head Researcher (and also currently Cibola Flight Experiment Project Leader) is Dr. Diane Roussel-Dupré.  Over the years, FORTE, ALEXIS, and Cibola Flight Experiment (CFE) satellites have been used by the Los Alamos National Laboratory to track Santa Claus, along with satellite tracking dishes located in Los Alamos and Fairbanks, Alaska, and with assistance from the the U.S. Air Force with its nine (9) tracking stations around the world.  The Los Alamos National Laboratory – Tracking Santa website provides hourly updates of Santa Claus' whereabouts from Siberia to China to Mexico, with information about how those countries celebrate Christmas, before Santa Claus touches down in New Mexico around midnight local time (Mountain Standard Time).

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 * Wroxall Weather – Tracking Santa Project. Since December 24, 2006 Wroxall Weather on the Isle of Wight in England has been tracking Santa Claus' whereabouts on Christmas Eve at this webpage of http://www.wroxall-weather.co.uk/santatracker/ so youngsters can locate Father Christmas (Santa Claus in the United Kingdom) and monitor his progress towards the Isle of Wight online.  It is the brainchild of meteorologist David Carrington, who lives in Wroxall with his wife, Emma, and six children.  He said: “We want to get the children in bed at a reasonable time and they know Santa won’t come until they go to sleep.  “It’s fun for kids but an aid for parents, too.”

Past Santa Tracker Efforts
Past Santa Tracker efforts include:

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 * Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport’s Tracks Santa Project. On Christmas Eve from the year 2000 to 2009, the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport hosted a Santa tracker at this webpage of http://www.dfwairport.com/santatracker/ and archive link. Featured were tracking of Santa, games, animation, music, e-cards, and links to: 1) send a child e-mail from Santa, 2) the NORAD Tracks Santa website, and 3) websites that track the history of Christmas around the world.

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 * Santa Retro Radar – Lehigh Valley Project. From 1997 thru 2009, Frank and Debi DeFreitas hosted a Santa tracker at this webpage of http://www.holoworld.com/santa/ and archive link.

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 * NASA Tracks Santa Project. During December from 1998 thru 2008, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center would host a basic Santa tracker at this webpage of http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/home/seasonal/SantaTrack.html as a Java applet with comments at the bottom of the applet display.

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 * Santa Speaking Project. On Christmas Eve from the year 2004 to the 2008, the Santa Speaking Project hosted a Santa tracker at this webpage of http://www.santaspeaking.com/TrackSanta.aspx. This Santa tracker had all kinds of interesting features. One could view Santa‘s flight plan and track how much milk and how many cookies Santa has consumed. It told you how many houses he had visited and had a stamina radar. The greatest thing about this tracker was the "Closeness O'Meter" informing one how close Santa was to one’s house so that one could get to bed in time. The tracking videos themselves were from the NORAD Tracks Santa website from around 2002 with some editing.

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 * Keyhole Santa Radar. During December from 2004 thru 2006, Google used "Keyhole Earth Viewer" (and later Google Earth) to track Santa Claus on his Christmas Eve journey. In December 2004, Keyhole Santa Radar had an audience of 25,000. In December 2005, the audience had grown to 250,000. In December 2006, Google incorporated a tracking feed directly from NORAD's headquarters, and Keyhole Santa Radar was then displaying NORAD's Santa Claus tracking information in Google Earth, resulting in an audience of more than a million people tracking Santa Claus using Keyhole Santa Radar. In 2007, the Google and Booz Allen Hamilton alliance displaced America Online as the primary partners and co-sponsors of the NORAD Tracks Santa Program and a separate Keyhole Santa Radar effort was no longer needed.

Santa Tracker Apps
The new growth area in the Santa Tracker marketplace is in the smart mobile device arena such as tablet computers (for example iPads) and smartphones. For example, since the 2008 NORAD Tracks Santa season, iTunes applications (or apps) are available for download at the iTunes Store to help track Santa on Christmas Eve.

Santa Tracker Apps include:

1. Santa By Google Maps For Mobile. After loading Google Maps for Mobile on a mobile device, the current location for Santa Claus is found by searching for "Santa", similar to using a query for "pizza" to find pizza places, or "San Antonio" to find that city on a map.

2. Santa Tracker 2010 by Talus Media LLC for iPhone.

3. Santa Tracker Live from Active9.com for Android mobile devices including smartphones.

4. Santa Tracker from Value Apps for Android mobile devices including smartphones.

5. Santa Tracker Christmas for Android mobile devices including smartphones.

6. Santa Spotter from Ogilvy Group for Android mobile devices including smartphones.

7. Santa Tracker for BlackBerry.

8. Santa Tracker GPS 2.0 for iPad and second link.

9. In December 2011, the NORAD Tracks Santa program responds with free official mobile apps available in the Apple iTunes Store and in the Android Market. NORAD Tracks Program apps at the iTunes Store. NORAD Tracks Program apps at the Android Market These free NORAD Tracks Santa iTunes and Android apps by Visionbox, Inc. enables one to watch the days countdown to Santa's flight, follow Santa's progress on December 24, play "Elf Toss" to help Santa's elves deliver presents, and learn about NORAD and its mission.

Broadband Type TV
6bBThclGCEw AT&amp;T U-verse TV Santa Tracker Demo. Link to full size video .
 * AT&amp;T U-verse TV Santa Tracker App. From 2009 to the present, the convergence of telephony, TV, and the internet is an opportunity for AT&amp;T to provide an integrated and interactive Santa tracker application offering during December and on Christmas Eve to include news from the Santa News Network (SNN) on AT&amp;T U-verse channel 98. U-verse TV customers can interact with Santa and the North Pole in a number of ways, including: 1) Vote in the "Naughty or Nice" poll, 2) Play sing-a-longs and read-a-longs for popular holiday music and stories,3) Listen to holiday songs on "Rudolph Radio", 4) Play holiday games presented by Discovery.com/Toys, and 5) Watch real-time reports from the Santa News Network to see if Santa has left the North Pole and track his sleigh as he travels around the globe.

Impact of Santa Tracker Efforts
In addition to providing great holiday-themed enetrtainment during December for children and the young at heart, Santa Tracking and the underlying technologies used in Santa Tracking, such as radar, satellites, video cameras and jet fighter aircraft, which were orginally developed for the space program, inspire children around the world to think about how space technology and exploration play an increasingly important role in ones daily life. Also, Santa Tracking teaches children and the young at heart important lessons on geography. Finally, children can learn about tracking technology and science concepts that can inspire them to dream higher than the stars for their own future. Studies show that U.S. colleges and universities are only graduating about 9,000 computer science students a year, and Santa Tracking efforts are one way to inspire more young people to answer the call for careers in technology fields.