And he's off! Watch Santa's journey using NORAD's Santa Tracker

NORTH POLE (WABC) -- And he's off! It's Christmas Eve, and Santa is traveling the globe and delivering presents to all the good boys and girls of the world.

And thanks to the North American Aerospace Defense Command -- better known as NORAD -- you can follow his every move.

For the 62nd year, NORAD has launched its beloved Santa tracker for 2017 on NORADSanta.org.

Every Christmas Eve, the agency -- which is a joint effort of the governments of the United States and Canada -- uses its cutting-edge tracking technology to track the movement of Santa's sleigh as he delivers gifts the world over.

Leading up to today, Santa and his elves have been busy laboring away at the North Pole to prepare for their trans-global journey. On the website, you can explore Santa's workshop, listen to Christmas carols and play holiday-themed games.

For decades, NORAD Tracks Santa was a phone service, where interested parties could call in for real-time updates on Santa's location as he traversed the globe.

With the advent of the web, NORAD moved the service to a website with an interactive map in the late 1990s.

It began in 1955 when a newspaper ad invited children to call Santa but mistakenly ran the phone number for the hotline for NORAD's predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command.

Last year, NORAD Tracks Santa received nearly 154,200 phone calls and 10.7 million unique website visitors. It also snared 1.8 million followers on Facebook and 177,000 on Twitter.

The toll-free telephone number for NORAD tracks Santa is 877-Hi NORAD or 877-446-6723.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)