Track Santa’s journey with NORAD and Microsoft

For more than 50 years, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has helped children track Ol’ Saint Nicholas as he makes his journey to homes with his trusty reindeer and gifts in tow. This year, Microsoft is partnering with NORAD to make following Santa’s sleigh even easier. The Santa Tracker tool is built on Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud computing platform and incorporates leading-edge mapping from Bing Maps.  Children can even track Santa’s movements in real-time on a variety of mobile devices with dedicated Windows Phone and Windows 8 apps, as well as apps for iOS and Android. 

In a recent guest blog , Capt. Jeff Davis, U.S. Navy and Director, NORAD and U.S. Northern Command Public Affairs, explains how one newspaper typo led to NORAD tracking Santa every year since 1955.  Capt. Davis shares how, with the application of cutting-edge technologies from companies like Microsoft, nearly 25 million people around the world will follow Santa’s journey via the web, mobile devices, e-mail, and phones. 

Starting on December 24 at 12 a.m. (MST) you can visit www.noradsanta.org and watch Santa prepare for his journey. Then, at 4:00 a.m. MST (6:00 a.m. EST), trackers worldwide can speak with a live phone operator about Santa’s locations by dialing the toll-free number 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) or by sending an e-mail to noradtrackssanta@outlook.com. NORAD’s “Santa Cams” will also stream videos as Santa makes his way over various locations throughout the world.