To download a shapefile or KML of your project, visit your dashboard, find your map, and select the "Download KML" or "Download Shapefile" to being the download.

Depending on your browser, you can usually open the containing folder directly from your toolbar. 

Otherwise, you can navigate to your downloads folder from your file explorer.

If you are using a KML, it is ready to use and can be double clicked to open it in Google Earth (if it is installed on your computer). KMLs are relatively small files and can be shared in email or communication/collaboration applications.

If you are downloading shapefiles, a separate zipped file is delivered for each geometry type in your map (point, line, polygon). Shapefiles can be imported into most GIS programs.

Shapefiles are zipped files containing several file types. These files are all required to read the shapefile in a GIS program.

While the primary utility of a shape file is as a portable GIS file that can be used across many platforms, you can also use this download method to extract tabular data that you created when you built your map. 

The DBF file contained in each shapefile is a table that you can open in Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet applications.

To view your table, navigate to your downloaded shapefile and unzip it. 

Open your spreadsheet program. The example here is in Excel, but the process will be similar when using other spreadsheet applications. 

Open a new sheet by navigating to your download folder and selecting the file with the .dbf extension.

If you do not see the file, make sure you have selected "All Files" or "dBase Files" for the file type.

This will open your spreadsheet. From here you can edit the sheet by adding or deleting fields. You can then save it out as another file type (CSV or XLS) that can be shared without altering the data in the original DBF file in your shapefile.

Downloading Shapefiles and KMLs (desktop)