Follow Santa on Christmas Eve!
On December 24th follow Santa and his reindeer as they deliver presents to children around the world on www.noradsanta.org. Track his journey on Google Earth (make sure you have the plug-in installed) and also on Google Maps. During his flight, click on the video icons on the map to watch videos of him flying through cities and landmarks in 3D. Watch this trailer video (Santa's journey from last year) to get excited for this Christmas Eve! Don't forget to visit www.noradsanta.org on December 24th to follow Santa on his sleigh.

Send a Holiday Card
Excited for the holidays? Share a message of holiday cheer with custom online cards from Google Maps. Choose from ten holiday card covers, and personalize the card with a message and a special place on the map. Send your brother directions for an upcoming ski trip, suggest a restaurant for a family dinner, or share wintry Street View imagery with your friends in California. Visit googlemapsholidays.appspot.com to send cards to your friends and family.

Explore Paris in 3D
Paris, France is known for landmarks like the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Arc de Triomphe, world-famous museums like the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay, and hundreds of little bistros with French pastries so good they make your heart pop. Now all of these sites – and many others that make Paris special – are available to tour in 3D with Google Earth. Watch this video and start exploring Paris in 3D. Bon voyage!

3D Measurements in Google Earth Pro 6
Did you know that now you can measure in 3D using Google Earth Pro 6? You can measure the height and width of 3D buildings as well as the distances between buildings and points on the globe. To measure buildings and distances, just turn on the 3D Buildings layer and click the Ruler Tool icon in the toolbar. If you're a new customer, save $30 off a one-year subscription to Google Earth Pro. Get the holiday discount here.

Introducing Google Earth Engine
Earlier this month, Google.org launched Google Earth Engine, a new technology platform that puts an unprecedented amount of satellite imagery and data—current and historical—online for the first time. It enables global-scale monitoring and measurement of changes in the earth's environment. Google Earth Engine can be used for a wide range of applications—from mapping water resources to ecosystem services to deforestation. Learn more about this platform here.

New and Updated Imagery
This month we added new and updated imagery, including high-resolution aerial updates for the USA, Canada, Netherlands, South Africa, and Sweden. Many countries also received high-resolution satellite updates, including Costa Rica, Germany, Greece, Taiwan, Ukraine, Virgin Islands and more. Take a look at these changes and many more (marked in red) in our update post here, or view this file directly in Google Earth. Don't forget you can use the View > Historical Imagery option to see imagery choices through the time slider.