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Promoting rural regions is crucial for societies all over the world. Prosperous and vital rural regions can contribute to solving many pressing problems that threaten humanity, such as climate change, poverty, hunger, health or clean energy. The attractiveness of rural regions can be improved through targeted measures and support. For the design of such targeted interventions, high-quality assessments of rural attractiveness can provide a solid information basis. However, the attractiveness of rural regions is a complex construct and therefore difficult to assess. Thus, in this paper, we present tools for the assessment of rural attractiveness that address these complexities and support use and interpretation of the results of rural attractiveness assessments by stakeholders: First, we develop a Rural Attractiveness Index (RAI) which provides a general blueprint for assessing rural attractiveness, yet still is flexible and adaptable to each specific context. As integrated measure of rural attractiveness it also facilitates interpretation by stakeholders. Second, to further enhance interpretation and communication, we propose to visualize the RAI in map-based form. We demonstrate the application of these tools through an illustrative showcase in a European context. We discuss strengths, limitations and challenges of the presented tools and highlight directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hub4Everybody is a one-of-a-kind solution for publishing, sharing and cooperative management of geographical datasets, such as professional data and measuring, results of research projects or student papers, educational materials, emotional maps, visualization of in-field research and other maps, tables, or databases. You can easily upload or update your data as well as adjust the parameters of sharing among different audiences. Hub4Everybody is an alternative tool combining online office software with an editorial system for spatial data. It is also an Open-Source alternative to already existing commercial solutions, while offering additional extending options. Hub4Everybody offers all usual functions of geoportals (working with a map, linking of external data and services) but on top of that it offers a possibility to link desktop and mobile solutions for geographical data processing, data visualisation in form of storyboard and communication components via social networks. The solution is scalable and fully adaptable to the end-user needs. You can store your data directly on Hub4Everybody cloud or in your own infrastructure. All technologies used for Hub4Everybody are open source, which enables you to communicate with all kinds of users all over the world while no costs are necessary. The paper describes not only the current system, but also the history of development and potential utilization. An intensive testing and development using a series of INSPIRE Hackathons are an important part of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]