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Rurality index is one of the most used indicators to territorial characterization in the world. The most common formulation of this index is based in the total population of a region (EUROSTAT). However the application to local and regional development doesn’t fits the 115 needs of detail information. So as result of an extensive work held by a group of experts of the crossborder regions of Alentejo and Centro (Portugal) and Extremadura (Spain), that have been for more than 16 years of cooperation in Territory and GIS applications. From this cooperation it was built the first crossborder Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) (www.ideotalex.eu), and the SIO (Indicator system of OTALEX C). One of the indicators developed to fits the needs of the regions was the rurality index. This index is formulated including not only the total population, but also, population density, level of education, population by activity sectors, level of health, and services. As results it’s presented the comparative analysis of the rurality index maps derived from the different methodologies.

EUROACE is the name given to the Euro-region covering Alentejo and Centro in Portugal and Extremadura in Spain, since the biophysical perspective, it is mainly characterized by the topography and climate of the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The evolution of these two variables have allowed developing a wide variety of soils and a considerable amount of their typologies diversity, as well. The OTALEX C Project team, a cooperation formed by the direct collaboration of Portuguese and Spanish entities creating an active cross-border cooperation (CBC) strategy, belonging to the three levels of administration: national, regional and local. Sharing common problems was enable to develop common solutions for the territories as the example of the OTALEX C Spatial Data Infrastructure (IDE OTALEX C) - a set of indicators that may contribute to the sustainability of the mentioned territory. Those indicators cover a lot of biophysical variables: hydrology, climate, soil, vegetation, and fauna, among many others. The criteria selection of such indicators was carried out taking into account the possibility of a constant updating on the EUROACE territory, as well as they adapting to the Sustainable Development Indicators (SDIs), which are used by the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (EUSDS). With the data collection procedure has been possible to relate soil, weather and vegetation, enabling to analyze issues regarding with the ecosystems functioning as well as their biodiversity and vegetal distribution on the soil, which along, with their structure shape the landscape, where the arboreal stratum constitutes one of they principal components. Major results show that those indicators are helpful tools for territorial management which favoring the conservation and sustainable development of the territories.

Em zonas transfronteiriças a informação disponível, sobre indicadores de desenvolvimento, embora exista e até se encontre acessível não é, muitas vezes comparável e compatível, verificando-se assim um hiato nas áreas raianas que urge corrigir. Neste sentido, é imprescindível desenvolver o processo de harmonização onde é fundamental a recolha sistematizada de informação oficial fidedigna, a harmonização semântica, de conceitos e mesmo de metodologias de cálculo, a harmonização geométrica, cartográfica e de escalas espacial e temporal. Esta apresentação pretende destacar o trabalho de harmonização de dados desenvolvido, pelo Grupo de Trabalho dos Indicadores constituído no âmbito dos projetos de cooperação transfronteiriça na EUROACE, ao longo dos últimos 18 anos, do qual resulta a informação publicada nos ATLAS Alentejo e Extremadura (2011) e ATLAS Alentejo Extremadura Centro (2013) e do SIOTALEX (www.ideotalex.eu).

Na presente publicação são apresentados os resultados obtidos no âmbito do projeto OTALEX C - "Observatório Territorial e Ambiental Alentejo-Extremadura-Centro".

O Projecto OTALEX foi financiado pelo programa europeu INTERREG IIIA e teve como objectivos estudar e dar a conhecer a realidade de um território, composto pelas regiões do Alentejo em Portugal e da Extremadura em Espanha, separadas convencionalmente pela fronteira administrativa mas unidas pelas suas características físicas, ambientais, sociais e económicas. Tratam-se de espaços rurais de baixa densidade demográfica onde os recursos naturais, culturais e a qualidade do ambiente constituem os seus atractivos fundamentais. A IDE OTALEX é o resultado do esforço, do compromisso e da colaboração entre instituições da fronteira, com implicação aos três níveis administrativos: Nacional, Regional e Local. Apresentam-se os trabalhos de homogeneização e estandartização de dados territoriais do Alentejo e da Extremadura, através de clientes de visualização de mapas, consulta de topónimos e de catálogo, no âmbito da directiva INSPIRE.

Extremadura, in Spain, and Alentejo and Centro, in Portugal, are tree regions belonging to different countries but with several common interests. They are continuous border areas that share similar ecological, socioeconomic and environmental characteristics. The cooperation between these territories which promotes the collaboration and exchange of information between both sides of the Spanish-Portuguese frontier, has important references in several crossborder projects, such as: COORDSIG “Coordination of Geographical Information Systems and Instruments of Territorial Observation in Low Density Rural Areas”, co-financed by EFRD, program Interreg II C, developed between 1997 and 2001; PLANEXAL “Territorial Recognition for the approach of common urban-territorial management and planning strategies in Extremadura and Alentejo”, co-financed by Interreg III A Spain Portugal Program, between 2003 and 2005; GEOALEX “Geographical model for environmental and territorial management of rural low density areas”, co-financed by Interreg III A (Sub-program Alentejo-Extremadura) from 2004 to 2006; OTALEX “Territorial Observatory Alentejo Extremadura”, co-financed by Interreg III A Spain-Portugal Program, developed from 2006 to 2009; and OTALEX II “Territorial and Environmental Observatory Alentejo Extremadura”, co-financed also by Interreg III A Spain-Portugal Program and developed between 2008 and 2011. Starting in 2009 as the ongoing project of OTALEX II, OTALEX C “Territorial and Environmental Observatory Alentejo Extremadura Centro”, co-financed by the Cross Border Cooperation Operational Program of Spain-Portugal 2007-2013 (POCTEP), has as main purpose the creation of a management and environmental monitoring system thought the SDI – IDE OTALEX (Spatial data infrastructure of the Territorial and Environmental Observatory Alentejo-Extremadura-Centro - www.ideotalex.eu) as an information and institutional sharing platform between Alentejo-Extremadura-Centro administrations. The project is integrated by different spanish and portuguese entities that belong to three levels of administration. At national level the spanish Nacional Centro of Geographical Information / Nacional Geographical Institute (CNIG-IGN) and portuguese General Territory Direction (DGT); at the regional level, the General Direction for Transports, Territorial Management and Urbanism (Consejería of Fomento, Vivienda, Territorial Management and Tourism – Government of Extremadura) and Coordination and Regional Development Commission of Alentejo (CCDR-A); at local level, Intermunicipal Community of Central Alentejo (CIMAC), Intermunicipal Community of Alto Alentejo (CIMAA), O. A. Equality and Local Development Area (Diputación of Badajoz) and Diputación of Cáceres; in the high education, the University of Extremadura, the University of Évora and the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco; and as public enterprise, the Enterprise of Development and Infra-structures of Alqueva Dam, S.A. (EDIA). The publication of this crossborder atlas of Alentejo-Extremadura-Centro regions, the ATLAS OTALEX C, integrates the results of an extensive series of crossborder projects overcoming the fruitful cohesion of territories in the defence of their common interests. The present publication collects and synthetizes the harmonization effort made in bringing in common the information of the distinct partners of OTALEX C project, and aims to contribute in an effective way to the sustainable development of these crossborder regions through the definition of common strategies and of the implementation of crossborder of territorial and environmental observation instruments.