# Choose data region

When you specify a data region, Viam stores all data captured by your machines in that region. This includes sensor readings, images, and other captured data. Choosing the right region helps you meet data residency requirements and can reduce latency for data queries.

By default, new organizations store data in North America. Locations shared across multiple organizations store data in the primary organization’s region.

## Supported regions

Viam supports the following data regions:

- **North America** (`us-central`): Data is stored in Google Cloud Platform’s `us-central1` region. This is the default for new organizations.
- **Europe** (`eu-west`): Data is stored in Google Cloud Platform’s `europe-west4` region. Choose this region if you need to keep data within the EU to meet GDPR or other data residency requirements.

## Set organization data region

#### Caution: You cannot change region if you have already synced data

You must set the region before syncing data. Once you sync data in an organization, you cannot change the data region.

1. Open the organization dropdown in the top right of Viam, next to your initials.
2. Click **Settings and invites** to open the organization settings menu.
3. From the **Data region** dropdown, choose the geographic location where you would like to store data.
4. A dialog will appear at the bottom of the screen containing the text **Region updated**.

You can check your organization’s data region using [`get_organization`](https://docs.viam.com/reference/apis/fleet/), and set your organization’s data region using [`update_organization`](https://docs.viam.com/reference/apis/fleet/):

```python

```

You can check your organization’s data region using [`GetOrganization`](https://docs.viam.com/reference/apis/fleet/), and set your organization’s data region using [`UpdateOrganization`](https://docs.viam.com/reference/apis/fleet/):

```python

```

```python

```