Friday’s Food for Thought: Christmas On The Map

Christmas is only one week away, and that means Santa Claus is working overtime. On Christmas Eve, families can see exactly where in the world Santa is using the North American Defense Command’s (NORAD) Santa Tracker.

AGI again partnered with NORAD to track Santa’s journey. This is the 60^th year NORAD will use radar, satellites, SantaCams, and even fighter jets to help monitor Santa’s whereabouts. Families can visit noradsanta.org to explore Santa’s Village, and on Christmas Eve see where Santa makes his stops using AGI’s 2D and 3D Santa Tracker maps. Similarly, Google’s Santa Tracker helps locate Santa and also offers fun activities. Each day leading up to Christmas, Google will release a new activity for kids. Some of the games include learning geography and coding.

A White Christmas?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a map revealing the likelihood of where it will snow at least one inch on Christmas Day in the U.S., reports Gizmodo. Based on historical norms, the lower half of the country will not see a single snowflake, while the states along the Rocky Mountains and those bordering Canada have a chance of flurries

Deck the Halls

Online Christmas tree retailer Treetopia analyzed industry and internal data to discover residents in Tennessee, Florida, and West Virginia spend the most on artificial Christmas trees. The company also found the single most popular color for an artificial tree is green, but there are a few other colors topping the charts. White trees dominate the Midwest and South; black trees are popular in Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin; and more colorful trees such as pink and red are popular in the northwestern part of the country.

Christmas decorations are becoming even more technologically advanced with projection mapping, or mapping light onto a non-flat surface. Fast Company reports Brazilian creative studio Ambos codes lights for projection onto a physical tree to make it come to life as a Christmas tree. According to the article, this offers a new way to decorate with unlimited options (and less work).

Photo Credit: Treetopia