diff --git a/include/mapnik/geometry_impl.hpp b/include/mapnik/geometry_impl.hpp
index a3965684f..c007c6c13 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/geometry_impl.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/geometry_impl.hpp
@@ -205,7 +205,10 @@ struct polygon : vertex_sequence
     }
 };
 
-typedef mapnik::util::variant< point,line_string, polygon3, multi_point, multi_line_string, multi_polygon> geometry;
+struct geometry_collection;
+typedef mapnik::util::variant< point,line_string, polygon3, multi_point, multi_line_string, multi_polygon, mapnik::util::recursive_wrapper<geometry_collection> > geometry;
+
+struct geometry_collection : std::vector<geometry> {};
 
 struct point_vertex_adapter
 {