To celebrate 10 years of Creator Weekly, I’m sharing tech highlights from 2015 that still resonate a decade later.
Google launched their first Santa Tracker in 2004, shortly after acquiring a company called Keyhole, which would become Google Earth. In 2007 they officially partnered with NORAD, which had been tracking Santa since the 1950s.
Some things have changed. Mrs. Claus appears and the village is more conservation minded. The elves ride bikes instead of cars, and Santa gets electricity from wind turbines and solar panels.
Ten years ago, Google open-sourced their Santa Tracker and built a new Santa's Village.
Tracking Santa
Santa Tracker and Santa's Village in December 2015
In 2012, NORAD switched to using Bing Maps. Google continued on their own, using a "new route algorithm" and a site where you could visit Santa's Village to play mini-games and get into the holiday spirit.
Open Source Santa
In 2015 Google made their Santa Tracker open source, including both the Android and Polymer-based mobile-optimized web versions.
Probably not coincidentally, Polymer 1.0 (an open-source JavaScript library for building web applications developed by Google), was released a month later.
Santa's Village Update
In 2015 Santa's Village also got an update, with new games (with support for Cardboard VR), a music maker, Happy Holidays translations and holiday traditions from around the world.
On Christmas Eve you could watch Santa deliver presents around the world.
The View from 2025
Santa Tracker and Santa's Village in 2025, just a day before Christmas
Ten years later you can still visit Santa's Village.
It has been tweaked a bit over the years, of course, but the look is the same. You can still play the same games, learn coding with the Code Boogie, or create your own Elf Jam Band.
Some things have changed. Mrs. Claus appears and the village is more conservation minded. The elves ride bikes instead of cars, and Santa gets electricity from wind turbines and solar panels.
I think it's notable that there aren't any new generative AI elements, despite those being inserted into literally every other Google product and service. Is it abandoned? Or just meant to focus on simpler times?
But the important thing is that you can still track when Santa will arrive.
But the important thing is that you can still track when Santa will arrive.
The Web Moved On
The open source code for Santa Tracker Web and Santa Tracker Android is still available, although it has not been updated for a number of years.
Polymer, which was shiny and new in 2015, hasn't been updated since 2020 and is now in maintenance mode. Using Lit Web Components is recommended instead.
But the code and components are still available if you want to track Santa yourself.
Related
10 Years Ago This Week: Google brings Cardboard VR to the masses
References
Santa's Village (December 2015) or visit the current Santa's Village and Santa Tracker
Google Official Blog, 23 December 2008, Tracking Santa: The backstory
Google Blog, 2 December 2015, Jingle all the way to Santa's Village
Google Blog, 22 December 2021, The Googlers who help track Santa each Christmas
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