GIS Data Center
Welcome to the GIS Data Center from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Here is where you will find natural resources and related data for use in your Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. The data are free to download at no charge.
Geo-Referencing System
The datum for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Geographic Information System (GIS) data is North American Datum 1983 HARN (1991 adjustment). The data are registered to the Washington Coordinate System of 1983, South Zone. Units are in U.S. Survey feet.
Please note that if you are using data in other projections or in other units (e.g. meters) your data will not be spatially aligned to DNR GIS data.
File Formats
The GIS data available from this site are produced in different file formats depending on the type of data it is and how it is stored here at DNR.
Determining Fitness for Use
Many geographic data sets in use at the DNR have been developed for a wide range of purposes. Please give careful consideration to the issue of "fitness" for a particular use. Metadata (information about the data) is available from this site to aid in this process. Please feel free to contact the specified Contact Person (listed in the metadata) if you have any questions about the dataset. Determining "fitness for use" is solely the user's responsibility. For more information, see our sample license agreement (when you first download a file, you will be asked to accept or decline this agreement and enter contact information).
Online Data License Agreement
After selecting a file to download, the online agreement will pop up. Please read this agreement, then fill in your contact information: name, e-mail address and organization name, as requested at the bottom of the page. The Cadastre datasets do not require you fill in any contact information. You must designate that you accept the terms of the DNR online data license agreement to download any of the DNR GIS datasets
File Size / File Compression
GIS datasets can be very large files that can take a long time to download. Because of the size, most of the DNR GIS files are provided in a compressed format. You will need to be sure your computing environment has enough memory available to handle the size of the file you are downloading. You will also need to have a software utility available to uncompress the dataset. NOTE: TAR files cannot be uncompressed using a WinZip utility. You will need to use a Gzip utility or another utility compatible with your system software.
Questions About the Data
Questions about the data provided at this site should be directed to the Contact Person listed in the metadata. There may also be contact information on the Program Website link provided on the Available GIS Data
Non-Internet Access
If you are unable to download the data files you need, and wish to order the data through a manual process, it may be available from our fee-based order form in Word format or order form in PDF format If the data you need is not available from this form, please send an e-mail request to DataServices@dnr.gov indicating the title of the data you wish to order and your contact information (name, phone, e-mail).
System Problems
If you believe there are some data download problems occurring (i.e. not related to your browser or internet connection), please contact our Support Unit at DataServices@dnr.wa.gov
Data Download
Different file formats or datasets may download differently, depending on your computing environment. The majority of the files available are in the shapefile format.
See How-To Download Shapefiles
The download instructions will be similar for other file formats. You will notice some differences in how different file formats download, such as when the online data agreement will pop up, etc. The differences are slight, but cannot be avoided.