‘Twas the night before Christmas, and thanks to Google apps, children can track Santa all across the map.
Google officially launched its annual Santa Tracker this morning. It’s the cumulation of 23 days of preparation by Google’s team of elves, during which they intertwined various Google products into the Santa experience. Today marks the launch of the flagship service for the holidays, and Google went all out this year.
The Web-based tracker gives live updates of Santa’s location, complete with a countdown timer until St. Nick arrives at his next destination, and a ticker tallying the number of gifts delivered. Each stop along the way is accompanied by details of the stop—360-degree imagery from Google Maps, facts pulled from Wikipedia, and current weather courtesy of the Weather Channel.
Between each destination, Google has populated the app with entertaining asides. Short videos show Santa preparing for take-off and stopping for snacks. The night ahead promises sleigh selfies, games, and more, all set to take place as Christmas approaches.
And when the Web won’t do, there’s a mobile app available for Android. (Santa has apparently put iOS users on the naughty list.) The app can be blasted to the big screen via ChromeCast, a nice distraction to have up if you have young’ns visiting. Santa Tracker’s even available for Android Wear, so you can keep tabs on the red suit from your wrist.
Google’s Santa Tracker has plenty of competition this year, and we’re pretty sure that we must be approaching peak Santa apps—the market is a gift sack about to burst. But don’t worry about that right now. Just set out some milk and cookies and watch for Santa to reach your house. And whatever you do, do not let your kids Google “Is Santa Real?”
Screenshot via Google
