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Santa Goes High-Tech With NORAD and Google Maps


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When you were a kid, you probably tried to stay up all night on Christmas at least once. You wanted to see Santa, and so you would camp out in your living room, struggling to keep your eyes open so you could catch a glimpse of him. If only you had had Google maps back then, all your problems would have been solved. With the help of NORAD and the technicians at Google Maps, one can watch Santa's journey around the world for themselves.

For NORAD, this is nothing new. They've been keeping track of Santa ever since a typo in a Sears advertisement made them the official Santa hotline. In 1955, Sears published an ad offering children a chance to call Santa directly. However, the number they published was off by a digit, and instead of speaking to Santa, children dialed into the Continental Air Defense Command's top secret line. After a brief confusion, the head of operations, Harry Shoup, decided that they would take over the Santa hotline, and they've been doing it every year since.

According to the NORAD website, they use radar, satellites, Santa Cams and fighter jets to keep track of his whereabouts all night. They also man 100 phones and 25 computers to respond to thousands of calls and e-mails at their headquarters in Colorado Springs. And now, with the help of Google Maps, you can watch his path over the Earth in real time. So bake those cookies, and open up your computer this Christmas to convince all the non-believers in your life.