Snohomish County’s vector GIS data is primarily shared in a shapefile format.
Shapefile is a mostly open GIS specification developed and regulated by Esri and comprised of at least three mandatory files (.shp, .shx, .dbf). Other optional files may relate to the data’s projection, metadata, indexes, etc, however shapefiles cannot store topological information.
Additional County vector data may be shared in a file geodatabase format. The file geodatabase was developed by Esri and is a collection of various types of GIS datasets (feature classes) held in a file system folder.
Most downloadable maps on Snohomish County's website are provided in the Adobe Portable Document Format (.PDF) and can be viewed in Adobe Acrobat Reader or other .PDF viewer. Most .PDF viewers and Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded for free online.