On June 15, URISA, the Association for GIS Professionals, announced that they will hold their third GIS in Public Health Conference on June 27-30, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia.

URISA is pleased to present this specialty conference, to explore the many uses of GIS for public health access, processes, and decision-making. A dedicated committee of well-known and respected professionals in the field has spearheaded this effort to create a specialty conference to promote sharing of information and networking within the discipline (URISA).

Past conferences have been held in Providence, RI and New Orleans, Louisiana.

For more information, visit URISA’s website.

In addition to  participating in relief efforts in Haiti’s devastating January earthquake, URISA’s GISCorps have other various volunteer missions and opportunities that focus on bridging the digital divide among various communities and even globally.

Established in October 2003, GISCorps “coordinates short term, volunteer GIS services to underprivileged communities worldwide. Our services support humanitarian relief, community development, local capacity building, health and education.”

The mission has been well-received globally with volunteers from all over the world. “Corps has attracted 100’s of volunteers from over 75 countries. To date, GISCorps has deployed over 150 volunteers to 58 missions and 29 countries around the globe. These volunteers have contributed over 7,300 working hours towards those missions.”

To volunteer for GISCorps or to see if GISCorps can help your cause, visit URISA’s GISCorps website.

The URISA Journal, the Urban and Regional Information Association’s peer-reviewed publication, serves as a great resource for its members and other IT and GIS professionals. The Journal offers refereed articles, reports, book reviews, software reviews, and current literature reviews. In December 2009, the Journal became available online to better share information and resources. Past and present issues, including 196 articles in 40 issues, are now available on URISA’s Journal archives. The current 2009 issue, Volume 21, Number 1, can be accessed online.

Included in this issue is information regarding dates and locations for upcoming conferences such as the 48th Annual URISA Conference & Exposition and URISA’s 5th Caribbean GIS Conference, and recent studies on regional GIS in the U.S., land use cluster analysis, and much more.

For more information, please visit the URISA website.

Dates and locations for the 2011 URISA GIS in Public Health Conference will be made available soon!

One of the most informative and educational GIS conferences, URISA’s GIS in Public Health Conferences are held to promote the use of GIS for public health access, health processes, and decision-making. The conferences’ keynote speakers, presenters, and attendees hail from professional backgrounds that foster a conducive learning environment. With high interest in this increasingly evolving field, these conferences aim to share new and exciting methods and uses to inform the public and for better data-based decision-making in public health.

Past conferences were held in 2007 and 2009 in New Orleans and in Providence, respectively. URISA’s GIS in Public Health Conferences are held every two years

Visit URISA’s website for more information.