In network programming, is there a way to download the MAC table from switches without login or it being a managed switch?

I am building a network mapping tool, and I want it to do more than scan for open ports and such but I also want it to be able to generate a topology of the network and in order to do that I need to be able to see the MAC address tables to map what each port is connected to (weather it be a switch or a host). Another thing I need is to be able to do it without it having telnet or ssh enabled since not all switches are going to be managed. I want to be able to map what is also connected to dumb switches alongside the managed one and without user authentication if possible. I know Cisco has a SNMP (I am not sure if this works on other brands of switches and routers) and I have no idea if that is going to be something that I am looking for when it comes to using it to map hosts connected to dumb switches, since they are mostly embedded devices not running a full Operating System on them.