PDE Preparing and Using Data for Analysis Practice Question
Which Google Cloud service would you use to create a unified data catalog that automatically captures lineage from BigQuery, Cloud Storage, and other sources?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is picking Data Catalog because it sounds like the obvious catalog service — but the question emphasizes unified catalog with automatic lineage across multiple sources, which is Dataplex's differentiator.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Dataplex
Dataplex is Google Cloud's unified data governance and catalog service that automatically discovers, catalogs, and captures lineage across BigQuery, Cloud Storage, and other sources. It provides a unified data catalog with automatic metadata extraction and lineage tracking, which is exactly what the question describes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Cloud Composer
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Composer is a managed Apache Airflow service for orchestrating workflow DAGs, not a metadata repository. It would be the correct choice for scheduling and dependency management across pipelines, but automatic lineage capture from BigQuery and Cloud Storage is provided by Dataplex Universal Catalog.
- ✗
Dataflow
Why it's wrong here
Dataflow is a managed Apache Beam runner for stream and batch data processing pipelines, not a metadata catalogue. It would be the correct choice for transforming or ingesting data, but lineage capture across BigQuery and Cloud Storage requires Dataplex Universal Catalog's automatic metadata harvesting.
- ✗
Data Catalog
Why it's wrong here
Data Catalog was the former standalone metadata service, now superseded by Dataplex Universal Catalog, which provides the automatic lineage harvesting described. Data Catalog alone would suit basic tag-based metadata search, but it lacks the integrated lineage capture across BigQuery and Cloud Storage sources.
- ✓
Dataplex
Why this is correct
Dataplex provides a unified data catalogue with automatic metadata discovery and lineage tracking across BigQuery, Cloud Storage and other sources, satisfying the requirement for automatic lineage capture. Its built-in Data Catalog integration and lineage API record transformations without manual annotation, which is precisely the unified, cross-source lineage capability the scenario demands.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Google Cloud exam blueprint
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