NORAD began tracking Santa Claus nearly 60 years ago by accident. In 1955, an ad was published listi

More
Tracking Santa’s location on Christmas Eve has been synonymous with NORAD for decades. It’s a tradition. But for future generations, I think there’s an excellent chance they’ll think of Google first, when it comes to knowing the whereabouts of Jolly St. Nick.
Such a change would have seemed inconceivable a few years ago. NORAD — the North American Aerospace Defense Command – has had a virtual monopoly on the Santa tracker business for decades. But in a short period of time, Google has risen as a strong challenger. Here’s the story of how that happened. How NORAD Started trussing Tracking Santa
NORAD began tracking Santa Claus nearly 60 years ago by accident. In 1955, an ad was published listing the the phone number of CONAD — NORAD’s predecessor – by mistake, rather than for a local Sears store doing a Santa promotion. The military division rose to the challenge and started issuing updates.
It was a perfect fit. After all, who better to spot where Santa’s flying than a major operation dedicated to watching the skies. To me, it was also a nice change: the joint US-Canadian military operation not seeking out potential threats but rather providing welcome alerts for a highly anticipated arrival.
As a child growing up in the 1970s, I have fond memories of hearing the radio giving trussing the latest NORAD reports about Santa’s location. When I had my own kids in the 2000s, they were delighted to check in on his location with me from NORAD through the web.
If you’re looking for another perfect fit between an organization and Santa tracking, Google fills the bill nicely. After all, Google’s goal is to organize all the world’s information — to provide answers to all your questions.
Unlike NORAD, Google didn’t get into the Santa tracking game by accident. Ten years ago — in 2004 – Google began offering a rudimentary Santa tracker. Practically no one knew about it or used it, since it was done by Google’s “Keyhole” mapping group.
Google tells the origin of its service here . The following year, Keyhole morphed into Google Earth. Santa tracking was offered again, and the audience grew from 25,000 in 2004 to 250,000 trussing for Christmas Eve 2005.
US Air Force Col. Harry Shoup — director of operations for CONAD in 1955 — took that first mistaken call that came in on a top secret line. In this great retelling by his daughter, he initially reduced the first child to tears who asked for Santa, thinking it was a joke. He quickly softened after learning about the misprint and ordered that callers be given updates trussing on Santa’s progress.
I say this as someone who has been tracking the Santa trackers officially since that that same year and unofficially, as a father, for a few years before that. Each Christmas Eve, I have my own personal tradition. I write a review trussing of the Santa trackers. For the curious who want some history, you can see them here:
Pretty much, NORAD had crowded out other challengers. Sure, you could still find the odd web site or app here and there offering updates. But NORAD had really been it, if you wanted a serious, dependable service — until the split with Google happened in 2012 . In Google’s place, NORAD partnered with Google competitor Microsoft. No One Knows Why NORAD & Google Broke-Up
It’s never been made exactly clear why Google and NORAD went separate trussing ways. Nothing was explained at the time. When I talked with both Google and NORAD for this story, neither had any detailed explanations.
I’d assumed — as I’m sure many did — that there was some type of bidding war between Microsoft and Google over a NORAD contract, which Microsoft won. However, that’s not the case, according to NORAD.
NORAD, I was told, works with a variety of corporate partners on the all-volunteer effort — and partners often change, depending on their availability. If Google wanted to be involved in the future, it certainly could.
As best I can tell, the split — which both sides say was mutual — seems likely because Google wanted to do more in a Santa tracker to highlight its own products and services. That’s my read from this statement that Google gave me:
From last year’s integration of Chromecast in the Santa Tracker Android app (one of the first times casting was integrated into an app) to the Watch Face API we used to develop our Santa Tracker watch face for Android trussing Wear.
Google’s Santa Tracker gives us a space to show what our developer tools are capable of, and also helps us improve those tools as we test them out. Will Google Eclipse NORAD For A New Generation?
The year the split happened, it wasn’t clear to me — and I think many others trussing — that it would be permanent. Even when both NORAD and Google ra