Starting with Exploratory Desktop v13.2, you can now connect to Google BigQuery using a service account. Here we’ll explain the service account file required for this connection.
For Google BigQuery, you need to specify a service account JSON key file. This file contains authentication credentials necessary for applications to access Google Cloud APIs.
Steps to Obtain Service Account JSON File
Step 1: Create a Service Account in Google Cloud Console
- Access Google Cloud Console
- From the hamburger menu (☰) in the top left, select “IAM & Admin” → “Service Accounts”
- Click the “+ CREATE SERVICE ACCOUNT” button
- Enter the following information:
- Service account name: Use a descriptive name (e.g., bigquery-service-account)
- Service account ID: Auto-generated
- Description: Describe the purpose (e.g., For BigQuery data access)
Step 2: Grant Required Permissions
During creation or after creating the service account, grant the following permissions (roles):
Required roles:
-
BigQuery Data Editor- Read/write data permissions -
BigQuery Job User- Query execution permissions
If importing via Cloud Storage, the following additional role is required:
-
Storage Admin- For data transfer between BigQuery and Cloud Storage
Step 3: Create and Download JSON Key File
- Click on the created service account from the service account list
- Select the “Keys” tab
- Click “ADD KEY” → “Create new key”
- Select “JSON” as the key type
- Click the “CREATE” button
- The JSON file will be automatically downloaded