Geography of Health and GIS Analysis Research Group
Health geography studies the relationships between health and place. It is concerned with the interactions of people, society, place, space, and the environment. Health geography is known for its contributions to understanding the spatial pattern and diffusion of disease, environmental exposures, and the location and accessibility of health services. Health geographers practice and promote spatial thinking in the health sciences.
Geographies of health encompass a plurality of research paradigms and methodologies, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial data analysis. The Geography of Health (GoH) group supports geographical enquiry and spatial thinking in population and public health. The GoH group serves as a hub, connecting geographical expertise with health research and practice.
Recent and ongoing activities of the GoH group include the organization of high profile events and successful hands-on workshops to disseminate knowledge and awareness of health geography and GIS.
2026 Health GIS Day
GIS Day 2026 is coming on November 18, 2026! Join us for an engaging showcase of cutting-edge GIS applications, interactive discussions, and opportunities to connect with a vibrant community passionate about spatial insights in health.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. David O'Sullivan
Bio
David O'Sullivan is an Honorary Professor in the School of Environment at University of Auckland. He previously held positions at Victoria University of Wellington, UC Berkeley, Auckland, and Penn State. David gained his PhD in Architecture and Urban Planning at University College London in 2000, focusing on dynamic simulation models of urban neighbourhood change.
David's research interests focus on the spatial and computational methods needed to develop our understanding of the complex, dynamic, and deeply interconnected world we live in. He has worked on a wide range of topics from accessibility, gentrification, and ethnic and racial segregation, to the geography of personal names, and the spatial dynamics of disease and invasive pests. David has published extensively on these and other topics.
He has written books on geographic information analysis, spatial simulation, and computing geographically, and has expertise in a wide range of methods across each of these areas.
Title
New Zealand's COVID journey: One GISer's perspective
Summary
In this talk Dr. O'Sullivan will consider Aotearoa New Zealand's experience with the COVID-19 pandemic from early 2020 to early 2022. During that time, he tracked and plotted the daily numbers reported of cases, developed a spatial epidemiological simulation model, built an animated map of the August 2021 outbreak, and mapped the progress of the vaccination campaign. He will present each of these, and reflect on how geography might inform policy during such events.
Keynote Speaker: Mark Squires
Bio
Mark Squires has worked in GIS for more than 20 years, including the past 11 years with Newfoundland and Labrador's provincial health system. During that time, he has played a leading role in building and growing the organization's GIS program from the ground up, demonstrating how geography and spatial analysis can support real-world health planning and decision-making. His work has included primary care access, service planning, spatial analysis, and the development of interactive mapping applications and dashboards. More recently, Mark's work has played an important role in supporting the planning and development of Family Care Teams throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. He is also an active participant in Canada's Health GIS community, sharing knowledge and experiences with GIS and health professionals across the country.
Title
From Maps to Decision-Making: Building GIS into Health System Planning in Newfoundland and Labrador
Summary
Geography plays a significant role in how health services are planned and delivered in Newfoundland and Labrador, where a relatively small population is distributed across a large geographic area, including many rural and remote communities. In this presentation, Mark Squires will share the story of how GIS has grown within the provincial health system over the past decade — from establishing its value and credibility in the early years to becoming an increasingly important part of health planning and decision-making.
Using the planning and development of Family Care Teams as a recent example, Mark will explore how GIS can help planners better understand population distribution, access to services, travel, and the unique challenges of delivering primary care in rural areas. He will also share lessons learned from building GIS capacity within a health organization and discuss the opportunities for geography and spatial analysis to play an even greater role in future health-system planning.
Health Geography Scholarship
Exciting updates! We are launching the Health Geography Scholarship. Offered through the Geography of Health and GIS Analysis Research Group, this new opportunity supports University of Calgary students engaged in research that intersects geography and health.
Health Geography Scholarship Terms of Reference
Health Geography Scholarship Application Form
2024 Health GIS Day
Our 2024 health GIS day was a memorable event, with a record number of excellent quality contributions, and participation from all the continents, as our map below proudly shows.
GIS day is an international event, held on the third Wednesday of November, during Geography Awareness Week. The GOH study group organizes a health-GIS day every second year, and 2024 was our fifth event. We were fortunate to host two fascinating keynote speeches: Dr. Rocco Panciera, Geospatial health specialist with UNICEF, discussed the use of geospatial technologies on the frontline of health research; Dr. Nigel Waters, Professor Emeritus of Geography, took us through five ways in which GIS can help in the next pandemic. You can check them out below under the Event section along with all the lightning talks, which took us from Canada to India, Pakistan, New Zealand, the United States, China, and to Nigeria, and discussed a range of topics connecting public health with our environments and our societies: from prevention to accessibility, emergency response, environmental risk to urban environments; from food to child labour to mental health. Always through the lens of spatial thinking.
In this 2024 health-GIS day, more than ever, we saw our participants engage in questions and discussions that reached the core of health GIS analysis. Well done GOH, well done GIS people all over the world! We look forward to having you at our next Health GIS Day in 2026.
