Welcome to Santa's Workshop at Cesium

Proud provider of NORAD Tracks Santa 3D technology since 2012

How do we track Santa?

Tracking Santa’s location begins with data collected from NORAD, an organization that defends North America by tracking objects flying in and around its airspace. That data is updated on a highly-precise virtual globe consisting of 3D terrain and satellite imagery that accurately reflects the light from the sun and the position of the stars. Combining the virtual Earth, NORAD data, and a 3D model of Santa’s sleigh with special effects like digital snow, enables millions of people to visualize Santa’s location in real-time.

Read on to discover the technology behind NORAD Tracks Santa.

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Track Santa Live on December 24

Meet Hannah

With a background in computer science and fine arts, Hannah Pinkos designs and develops features across the Cesium platform. Each year, she takes on a special project as the lead developer for the NORAD Tracks Santa app. Hannah holds a master's degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech. She is also a professional circus aerialist, fire performer, and hula hoop dancer.

Meet the rest of the Cesium team. We're hiring!

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Types of Cesium data sources with arrows pointing to a globe

About Cesium

The Platform for 3D Geospatial

Based in Philadelphia, Cesium is building the open metaverse with software standards and tools that bridge the physical and digital worlds. its open platform is used across industries to build applications that use 3D location data collected from sensors like satellites and drones.

By creating precise digital twins of the Earth with Cesium, users can understand the operations of smart cities, measure piles of soil on construction sites from thousands of miles away, and even track the location of Santa’s sleigh in real-time as he travels around the globe.

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Create a holiday scene in 3D

This app shows off Cesium's 3D geospatial technology, including an accurate globe, 3D terrain, and 3D buildings.

We want to see your works of art! Tweet a screenshot of your hometown to @CesiumJS

Build Your First Cesium App

Visit our learning center to build custom Cesium apps like NORAD Tracks Santa with CesiumJS or Cesium for Unreal.

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