Searching the web using google is now an in thing for about 60% of the population using the internet and it is the best thing that is done when one logs on to the google search engine. Next in line are the photos which have also become popular over time followed by videos another popular category when it comes to Google.

Google has very many of these in store but for today we will dwell on the Google Maps. Like you click web when you want to carry out a search, you will click maps for the case of Google Maps. We started off the Map search with Jinja a town which is 80kms from Kampala. A map will show but when you double click onto a location, it will bring out all the neighbouring locations around that area.

On quenching our thirst with Jinja, we decided to make our way to Kampala following the Jinja-Kampala highway. I must say the scrolling of the 80Kms took a bit of time before we found ourselves in Bweyogerere (around Caltex and Kobil petrol stations).

A few clicks of scrolling through the map towards Kampala led us to the Northern-By-Pass round about clearly showing all the directions. We later moved on with our journey until Kampala town as shown in the above picture highlighting The Square area with the High Court in Kampala.

The other version is Google Earth which has to be downloaded on to your computer. It starts with the Globe, you locate your continent, go down further to your country, down to your town and down to your lane as seen from the image below that shows the aerial view of Kampala.

Try locating your village on the Google Maps or Google Earth, it will give you another version of your surfing experience.

              
The leading search engine which made eleven years last month has gone a step further and introduced a Luganda version on top of the Swahili version. On logging on to www.google.co.ug which by default shows up in English, you will notice an option for you to switch to Luganda or Swahili.

On getting to the Luganda screen, words like Omukutu, Ebifaananyi, Ebibina, Endagiriro are the ones to welcome you. We also learnt the Luganda version for "Search Settings" which was Okwerobooza.

When it comes to a query, you will insert you phrase like you normally do in the English version and then click Nonya which I think could have been Noonya to make it sound more Lugandan. This is to further confirm how Google Inc is committed to get services closer to the people.

A few months back they partnered with MTN to provide small ad services with the help of the mobile phone through the Google Trader and now the introduction of the search engine in Luganda makes it even better. Way to go Eric !

Related: Google Launches SMS Service in Uganda