Google has launched a Santa Tracker to monitor the progress of Mr. Claus on Christmas Eve. In recent versions, the site grew to include games that teach coding and other skills. This year, Google is making it easier to track Santa in Google Maps.
The “Track Santa” feature doesn’t go live until December 24th, but this year Saint Nick will appear and be accessible from Google Maps Location sharing. Heading to that section on Android or iOS will show the current position of Santa Claus, including his current status. There is also a shortcut to open the Santa Tracker for a more optimized experience.
“Under Mrs. Claus’s expert guidance, the elves have updated the village with a snazzy look and feel along with some brand new content. And, thanks to a new, hot-cocoa powered heating system, the village will no longer take all of December to thaw—all two dozen activities will be available starting on December 4,” the website states. “Now the elves (and you!) have more time to play and explore in Santa’s Village.”
In Google’s Santa’s Village, viewers are able to play educational games and learn to code, create art and learn holiday traditions from across the world.
Here are some of the newest games and features of Santa’s Village:
Build an elf: The website can help you craft your own elf in the North Pole in time for the holidays.
Dance(s) with elves: Google has paired up with PoseNet, a machine learning model, to train an elf to dance to share with your friends for the holidays.
A new way to track Santa: Viewers will be able to track Santa’s real-time location on Google Maps by clicking on the hamburger button and then “Location Sharing” to find out where Santa is and where he’s headed next.
Google Assistant can also connect users to the North Pole to help Santa prepare for his musical concert by saying “Call Santa.” After talking to Santa, users will be able to listen to a story by asking the Google Assistant to “Tell me a holiday story.” However, it is currently limited to the US, Canada, UK, and India.