Google Cloud Platform (GCP) provides a comprehensive ecosystem of cloud services spanning compute, storage, databases, networking, security, and data analytics. As a fully-managed cloud provider, GCP abstracts infrastructure complexity while giving developers fine-grained control over resources when needed. Two critical mental models underpin GCP services: global resources (like IAM and Cloud Storage) that span regions, and regional/zonal resources (like Compute Engine and Cloud SQL) that remain within specific geographic boundaries. Understanding this distinction helps you architect for both performance and compliance—global services optimize for availability and durability, while regional services optimize for latency and data residency requirements. The service boundaries matter: choosing a regional database over a global one affects failover, consistency guarantees, and where your data legally resides.