Most people, Frankovis said, just want to know where Santa is. And so the volunteer answering the question will look up at the big screen on the wall at the operations center and see where, on the map that is integrating geographical information from NORAD with Googles mapping service, Santa is at that moment.
Indeed, rather than having the news pull the Sears ad, Shoup decided to offer the countless kids calling in something useful: information about Santas progress from the North Pole. To quote the official NORAD Santa site, a tradition was born.
Of course, not everyone believes in Santa. Frankovis said that some callers--especially towards the later part of Christmas Eve when maybe a little bit too much egg nog or a Canadian grog called Moose Milk has been drunk--dial in to have a little bit of fun.
NORAD uses four high-tech systems to track Santa--radar, satellites, Santa Cams and fighter jets, reads the NORAD Santa Web site. Tracking Santa starts with the NORAD radar system called the North Warning System. This powerful radar system consists of 47 installations strung across the northern border of North America. On Christmas Eve, NORAD monitors the radar systems continuously for indications that Santa Claus has left the North Pole.
Grabbing the phone, Shoup must have expected the worst. Instead, a tiny voice asked, Is this Santa Claus?
In 2007, Google signed onto the project as a technology partner, and since then, has been incorporating NORADs data on Santas whereabouts into special 2D Google Maps and 3D Google Earth representations.
All joking aside,NORADhas been taking its Santa tracking project seriously for decades. But it actually began in 1955 with a wrong number.
But not before Martins run-in with Canadian Lt. Gen. Marcel Duval. He said, I understand that you have a new American city, Martin recalled. It was a slightly tense moment for me, standing in front of a three-star general explaining to him why one of his cities had been designated as a United States city.
NORAD is now actively tracking Santa, and will do so until 3 a.m. on Christmas Day.
Frankovis explained that most of those people are volunteers who come in to NORADs Colorado Springs headquarters on Christmas Eve to answer phone calls and emails. And its a good thing theres so many, she said, because Literally, when a volunteer puts the phone down after they get done with a call, its ringing again.
But the phone number in the ad was off by a digit. Instead of connecting with Santa, callers were dialing in on the line that would ring if the Russians were attacking.
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Daniel Terdiman, uniquely positioned to take you into the middle of another side of technology, chronicles his explorations of the fun beat, from cultural phenomena such as Burning Man to cutting-edge aircraft to game conventions.
Googles Martin said that his company--which, like all the corporate partners in the program, offers its assistance at no cost to taxpayers--has dozens of people working on helping to track Santa. Those people provide technical consulting and server provisioning for the NORAD Santa Web site, as well as helping put together YouTube videos, information for Google Maps and Google Earth and, soon, a new service that will allow people to use their mobile phones to track Santa on Christmas Eve.
Col. Shoup and the e-mails
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Technology is also playing an increasing role in how NORAD publicizes the program. Frankovis said that after taking over the project earlier this year when her predecessor retired, she decided to begin using a much wider collection of social and online media for promotion. As a result, the NORAD Santa tracker now has presences on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube andTroopTube.
From that point on, first CONAD and then, in 1958, when NORAD was formed, Shoups organization offered annual Santa tracking as a service to the global community. A phone number was publicized and anyone was invited to call up, especially on December 24, and find out where Santa was. Manning those phones over the years have been countless numbers of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps personnel and their milies, and for many people, turning to NORAD to find out where Santa is became something to look forward to each year.
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Is this Santa Claus?
All told, Martin said, the Web site had 8 million unique users in 2008, who visited the site 15 million times, accumulating tens of millions of page views and more than 10 million map views. Those numbers were up about 45 percent from 2007, he added.
Inexplicably, as Santa made his way through Toronto that night, the mapping software began identifying the city as being in the United States. Instantly, NORAD Santas dedicated Gmail account just lit up with messages from irate Canadians, Martin said, and quickly, the Google team fixed the problem.
Editors note:This story originally ran in 2009. In the spirit of the holidays, we thought wed run this touching piece again.
Martin also said Google helps out by providing and monitoring a Gmail account for the program. And it was there that one of the best messages he can remember came in just a few days ago.
Martin said that, clearly, many of the kids who send emails think theyre reaching out directly to Santa. Well write back and say weve forwarded their message to Santa at the North Pole, whos preparing for Christmas Eve.
These days, of course, a single red phone isnt enough to handle the demand for the information. In ct, said Joyce Frankovis, the public afirs specialist who runs the Santa tracking program for NORAD these days, there were fully 1,275 people involved in the project in 2008, and there would have been more had there been more room for them.
The Santa questions were only beginning. That day, the local news had run a Sears Roebuck ad with a big picture of St. Nick and text that urged, Hey, Kiddies! Call me direct...Call me on my private phone and I will talk to you personally any time day or night.
Before long, the phone was ringing off the hook, and softening up, Shoup grabbed a nearby airman and told him to answer the calls and, Van Keuren said, just pretend youre Santa.
Signal Strength
The ad that started it all.
Daniel TerdimanDaniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between.
In his later years, Shoup was not as sharp as he used to be, she said. But his days overseeing the Santa tracker program were still near and dear to his heart. She said the NORAD folks had printed out a sheaf of emails kids had written in and gave them to Shoup as a reminder of what hed started back in 1955.
The little voice is now crying, Van Keuren continued. Is this one of Santas elves, then?
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Technically Incorrect
Update (December 24, 2010, 4:00 a.m. PST): While the NORAD Santa program remains essentially the same as in 2009, it now features several new corporate and government partners, including Air Canada, Marine Toys for Tots, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the Newseum, Unified TelData, and Colorado Springs, Colo., School District 11. In addition, the official NORAD Santa Web site now features videos made byschoolchildren from around the world.
I have been good, a girl named Stephanie wrote to Santa. But my brother Christopher is mean to me. Take him and leave the presents, please!
But for those who question whether there really is a Santa at all, Frankovis said the volunteers answering the phone have a answer: We believe, based on historical data and 51 years of NORAD tracking information, that Santa Claus is alive and well in the hearts of people throughout the world.
Santa is hard to track. We actually never know which route Santas going to take. So its just a matter of using that high-tech equipment to track him.
All told, she said that each volunteer handles about 39 calls per hour and that in 2008, the team used 100 phones and 25 computers to handle 69,845 calls and 6,086 e-mails from more than 200 countries. Most of those contacts happened during the 25 hours from 2 a.m. on December 24 through 3 a.m. on Christmas that the operations center (see video below) is up and running.
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Still, despite all that, Santa is hard to track, said Frankovis. We actually never know which route Santas going to take. So its just a matter of using that high-tech equipment to track him.
The fourth system is made up of fighter jets. Canadian NORAD fighter pilots flying the CF-18 intercept and welcome Santa to North America. In the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in either the F-15 or the F-16 get the thrill of flying alongside Santa and his mous reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and, of course, Rudolph.
Dads pretty annoyed, said Terri Van Keuren, Shoups daughter, recalling the legend of that day in 1955. He barks into the phone, demanding to know whos calling.
Last March, Shoup died, said Van Keuren. But in the yeliving legends aviation Behind the scenes: NORADs Santa trackerars before his death, she and her mily would take the retired colonel back to Colorado Springs each year for the Santa tracker training. They would introduce him and he would say a few words, Van Keuren said. So that was a big thrill for him.
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Phones and e-mail
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The moment that radar indicates Santa has lifted off, we use our second detection system. Satellites positioned in geo-synchronous orbit at 22,300 miles from the Earths suce are equipped with infrared sensors, which enable them to detect heat. Amazingly, Rudolphs bright red nose gives off an infrared signature, which allow our satellites to detect Rudolph and Santa.
The third tracking system is the Santa Cam network. We began using it in 1998, which is the year we put our Santa Tracking program on the Internet. Santa Cams are ultra-cool, high-tech, high-speed digital cameras that are pre-positioned at many locations around the world. NORAD only uses these cameras once a year on Christmas Eve. The cameras capture images and videos of Santa and his reindeer as they make their journey around the world.
Nanotech - The Circuits Blog
living legends aviation Behind the scenes: NORADs Santa tracker,On a recent Christmas Eve, Jeff Martin found himself forced to explain to a Canadian general why, when Santa Claus passed through Toronto that night, Google Maps had placed the city in the United States.
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Martin, then a senior marketing manager in Googles Geo group, was part of a huge team of people involved in the joint U.S.-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Commands annualNORAD Santa tracker program, a long-running effort to provide children the world over a live view of Santas progress as he and his reindeer deliver Christmas presents.
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For the last weeks of his life, he carried them around in his briefcase like they were top secret s, Van Keuren said. Those were just precious to him. Id read them to him over and over.
And thats where the trouble began.
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One morning that December, U.S. Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, the director of operations at CONAD, the Continental Air Defense Command--NORADs predecessor--got a phone call at his Colorado Springs, Colo., office (see video below). This was no laughing matter. The call had come in on one of the top secret lines inside CONAD that only rang in the case of a crisis.
