Converting former butcher shops into residences or building an inn on a vacant property in the middle of the village: municipalities in the Weser mountains region, together with the State Agency for Spatial Information and Rural Development Lower Saxony (LGLN), have developed a web-based database that supports planning in regions whose populations have declined substantially. The municipalities enter information about vacant buildings, building gaps, and age structure into the land registry. They receive cards that make critical dimensions of vacant buildings or obsolescence visible for the administrations. On this basis, they can launch development projects and make town centres more liveable by converting or razing buildings.