Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are supported at Lehigh University through a site license arrangement with ESRI, publishers of the ArcGIS suite of GIS tools. This site license is funded through a cooperative agreement between Lehigh's Library and Technology Services, the Environmental Initiative, and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Proficiency in GIS technology is a core competency in many EES courses and research programs, and GIS is also employed by students involved in the Lehigh Earth Observatory (LEO) internship program. LEO also supports an internet mapping server providing data related to the Lehigh River watershed.

Although the Earth Sciences heretofore have been the principal users of GIS technologies, the Environmental Initiative is committed to supporting broader adoption of geospatial technologies in research and teaching throughout the university. Current and proposed projects include a partnership with the Lehigh Valley Research Consortium and collaboration with Lehigh's Digital Library on historical applications of GIS. One such project, Beyond Steel: An Archive of Lehigh Valley Industry and Culture, is profiled in a Lehigh University Relations article.

Examples of GIS work produced by Michael A. Chupa, EI Computing Consultant, in conjunction with research conducted by Stefan Firtko, Government Documents Coordinator at Lehigh University, were used as demonstration materials for the Beyond Steel project.

A fall 2006 presentation, You are Here: Scholarship and Geographical Information Systems, was organized by Chupa, and presented three research projects which have made excellent use of GIS technology in advancing research in the Social and Natural Sciences.