Announcing
International School of Geospatial Health GIS Shortcourse, "Geospatial Health and Environment" in New Orleans, Louisiana, December 1-4, 2008.

The 2nd International Symposium on Geospatial Health - "Advances in Geospatial Health" in New Orleans, Louisiana, December 5-7, 2008.

The formation of GnosisGIS took place during a Team Residency at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. The aim of the Team Residency was to develop a network of collaborating health workers and earth scientists dedicated to development of global computer-based models that can be used for improved control programs for schistosomiasis and other snail-borne diseases of medical and veterinary importance. The scope of the organization has since been expanded to include other infectious diseases of medical and veterinary importance.

The objectives of GnosisGIS are to:

• Facilitate collaboration of health scientists dedicated to development of GIS-based infectious disease forecast systems
• Publish the official journal Geospatial Health for peer-reviewed articles on health applications in the geospatial sciences for disease risk mapping and ecological niche modeling
• Offer training courses on health applications of geospatial tools through an 'International School of Geospatial Health'
• Sponsor an 'International Symposia on Geospatial Health' series at annual meetings
• Publish maps, data and metadata on the web on GIS health applications