NORAD's Santa tracker uses Bing Maps satellite imagery

Like every year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will be tracking Santa’s journey around the globe on Dec. 24. To help children about Santa’s whereabout, NORAD has built a 3D tracker using Microsoft Bing Maps satellite imagery. If your device does not support 3D Maps, NORAD Santa tracker will fall back to 2D maps experience.

This tracker will display a pin on maps marking Santa’s current location for children to follow. Interested children can learn more about each location Santa visits by clicking on an icon that will display Wikipedia articles and Santa Cam videos.

On Sunday, December 1, the 64th iteration of NORAD Tracks Santa begins with the launch of the www.noradsanta.org website. NORAD Tracks Santa is truly a global experience, delighting generations of families everywhere. This is due, in large part, to the efforts and services of numerous program contributors and volunteers.

“In addition to our day-to-day mission of defending North America, we are proud to carry on the tradition of tracking Santa as he travels along his yuletide flight path,” said Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command. “The same radars, satellites and interceptors employed on December 24 are used year-round to defend Canadian and American airspace from threats.”

Source: Microsoft