Learn about locations for products and resources in your project

Products or resources that require a location setting

Several products or resources require a location setting.

Product Default location Additional information
Google Analytics No default location.
You must set this location. 		This location is the Analytics reporting location2, which represents the country or region of your organization. Your Analytics reporting location, in turn, sets the currency for revenue reporting.
Data Connect No default location.
You must set the location for each instance. 		Each instance can be in a different location.
Cloud Firestore 1 No default location.
You must set the location for each instance. 		Each instance can be in a different location.
Realtime Database No default location.
You must set the location for each instance. 		Each instance can be in a different location.
Cloud Storage for Firebase 1 No default location.
You must set the location for each bucket. 		Each bucket can be in a different location.
Cloud Functions for Firebase 1 If location not set, the default region is us-central1. Each function can be in a different location.
Vertex AI in Firebase If location not set, the default region is us-central1. This location is where the Vertex AI service runs and where you access the model.

1 Depending on when you initially started using these products in your project, there can be location dependencies between these products. You might see this dependency referred to as the "location for default Google Cloud resources". Learn more about this location dependency.

2 Your Analytics reporting location does not affect where Google may process and store customer data for Firebase.

Set a location for a product or its resources

For a few products, you set the location at the product level. However, for most products, you set the location at the resource level (for example, for each Cloud Storage bucket or each function).

Product When and how to set the location Available locations
Google Analytics When you enable Google Analytics in your Firebase project in the Firebase console, you're prompted to select an Analytics reporting location. You should select a country or region that represents the location of your organization.

If you're a project Owner or Editor, you can later edit the time zone and the currency for your Analytics reporting location; go to your Google Analytics settings, then go to the Reporting pane.

See list in the Google Analytics settings > Reporting pane.
Data Connect When you provision a Data Connect service instance, you set its locations. You also set the location of the associated Google Cloud SQL instance.
You can use the Firebase console or Firebase CLI to provision an instance. 		Data Connect service and Cloud SQL instance locations
Cloud Firestore 1 When you provision a Cloud Firestore database instance, you set its location. You can use the Firebase console, REST API, Firebase CLI, or Terraform to provision an instance. Cloud Firestore locations
Realtime Database When you provision the Realtime Database instance, you set its location.
You can use the Firebase console, REST API, Firebase CLI, or Terraform to provision an instance. 		Realtime Database locations
Cloud Storage for Firebase 1 When you provision the Cloud Storage bucket, you set its location.
You can use the Firebase console, REST API, or Terraform to provision a bucket. 		Cloud Storage for Firebase locations
Cloud Functions for Firebase 1 When you write a function, you can optionally set its region.

If you don't specify a location, the default region is us-central1.

Cloud Functions for Firebase locations
Vertex AI in Firebase When you initialize the Vertex AI service and generative model in your codebase, you can optionally specify a location.

If you don't specify a location, the default region is us-central1.

Vertex AI in Firebase locations

1 Depending on when you initially started using these products in your project, there can be location dependencies between these products. You might see this dependency referred to as the "location for default Google Cloud resources". Learn more about this location dependency.

View location settings

Product Where to view the location setting
Google Analytics In the Firebase console, go to settings Project settings > Integrations > Google Analytics. Click the account number to open your Google Analytics account, and then go to the Admin panel to find your account's location information.
Data Connect In the Firebase console, go to the Data Connect page to view the list of your database instances and their locations.
Cloud Firestore In the Firebase console, go to the Cloud Firestore Data tab to view the list of your database instances and their locations.
Realtime Database In the Firebase console, go to the Realtime Database Data tab to view the list of your database instances and their locations.
Cloud Storage for Firebase In the Firebase console, go to the Cloud Storage Files tab to view the list of your buckets and their locations.
Cloud Functions for Firebase
  • Scheduled functions: In the Google Cloud console, go to Cloud Scheduler to view the list of topics for each job and function. The location is the last segment in the name of the topic.
  • Non-scheduled functions: In your function's source code, look for a region parameter. If a region isn't specified, then the default location is us-central1.
Vertex AI in Firebase In your codebase, look for the initialization of the Vertex AI service and generative model. If a location isn't specified, then the default location is us-central1.

Possible location dependencies due to "location for default Google Cloud resources"

The "location for default Google Cloud resources" is the location setting for any project resources associated with Google App Engine, including the following:

  • default Cloud Firestore database instance
  • default Cloud Storage for Firebase bucket with the name format of *.appspot.com
  • Google Cloud Scheduler used specifically with 1st gen scheduled functions

This "location for default Google Cloud resources" is an immutable setting. Also, when you set the location for one of the associated resources, you indirectly set the location for all of them due to their common association with App Engine.

However, with many changes to the Firebase and Google Cloud ecosystem over the years, the associations of resources to App Engine have been changing. Most notably, starting October 30, 2024, all newly provisioned default Cloud Storage for Firebase buckets have the name format *.firebasestorage.app, and they are not associated with App Engine.

Here are the details of what changed in the possible location dependencies:

  • Starting October 30, 2024, if the default Cloud Firestore instance and the default Cloud Storage for Firebase bucket are not yet provisioned:

    • Provisioning the default Cloud Firestore instance sets the location for any future App Engine app provisioned in the project. However, it does not dictate the location of the future default Cloud Storage bucket.

    • Provisioning the default Cloud Storage bucket no longer provisions an App Engine app. Thus, the location of the default Cloud Storage bucket does not dictate the location of the future default Cloud Firestore instance.

  • Starting October 30, 2024, if the default Cloud Firestore instance has already been provisioned, but the default Cloud Storage for Firebase bucket has not been provisioned:

    • The existing default Cloud Firestore instance does not dictate the location of the future default Cloud Storage bucket (*.firebasestorage.app).

  • Starting October 30, 2024, if the default Cloud Storage for Firebase bucket has already been provisioned (specifically, the *.appspot.com bucket), but the default Cloud Firestore instance has not been provisioned:

    • Back when the default Cloud Storage bucket (*.appspot.com) was provisioned, an App Engine app was also provisioned, and thus the location of the future default Cloud Firestore instance was set at that time. Even if you delete the *.appspot.com bucket, you can't delete the App Engine app, so the location setting of the future default Cloud Firestore instance is already set.

If you used 1st gen scheduled functions, then their location is set to the location for default Google Cloud resources. This is because Cloud Scheduler and App Engine previously had an association with each other. Also, if you set up 1st gen scheduled functions before provisioning other resources that shared this location setting, then you set their location, too.

Next steps

  • For more information about building applications to meet your latency, availability, and durability requirements, refer to Geography and Regions.