diff --git a/plugins/input/csv/csv_datasource.cpp b/plugins/input/csv/csv_datasource.cpp
index ce06ef274..2bb26d1f2 100644
--- a/plugins/input/csv/csv_datasource.cpp
+++ b/plugins/input/csv/csv_datasource.cpp
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@
 // boost
 #include <boost/make_shared.hpp>
 #include <boost/tokenizer.hpp>
-#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
 #include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
 #include <boost/spirit/include/qi.hpp>
 #include <boost/spirit/include/phoenix_operator.hpp>
@@ -38,6 +37,7 @@
 #include <mapnik/memory_featureset.hpp>
 #include <mapnik/wkt/wkt_factory.hpp>
 #include <mapnik/util/geometry_to_ds_type.hpp>
+#include <mapnik/util/conversions.hpp>
 #include <mapnik/boolean.hpp>
 
 // stl
@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@ csv_datasource::csv_datasource(parameters const& params, bool bind)
        - creates opportunity to filter attributes by map query
        speed:
        - add properties for wkt/lon/lat at parse time
-       - remove boost::lexical_cast
        - add ability to pass 'filter' keyword to drop attributes at layer init
        - create quad tree on the fly for small/med size files
        - memory map large files for reading
@@ -584,12 +583,11 @@ void csv_datasource::parse_csv(T& stream,
                             break;
                         }
 
-                        try
+                        if (mapnik::util::string2double(value,x))
                         {
-                            x = boost::lexical_cast<double>(value);
                             parsed_x = true;
                         }
-                        catch(boost::bad_lexical_cast & ex)
+                        else
                         {
                             std::ostringstream s;
                             s << "CSV Plugin: expected a float value for longitude: could not parse row "
@@ -617,12 +615,11 @@ void csv_datasource::parse_csv(T& stream,
                             break;
                         }
 
-                        try
+                        if (mapnik::util::string2double(value,y))
                         {
-                            y = boost::lexical_cast<double>(value);
                             parsed_y = true;
                         }
-                        catch(boost::bad_lexical_cast & ex)
+                        else
                         {
                             std::ostringstream s;
                             s << "CSV Plugin: expected a float value for latitude: could not parse row "
diff --git a/plugins/input/geos/geos_datasource.cpp b/plugins/input/geos/geos_datasource.cpp
index 736b03e62..8dd6fef13 100644
--- a/plugins/input/geos/geos_datasource.cpp
+++ b/plugins/input/geos/geos_datasource.cpp
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@
 // boost
 #include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
 #include <boost/limits.hpp>
-#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
 #include <boost/tokenizer.hpp>
 #include <boost/filesystem/operations.hpp>
 #include <boost/make_shared.hpp>
@@ -46,9 +45,6 @@
 // geos
 #include <geos_c.h>
 
-using boost::lexical_cast;
-using boost::bad_lexical_cast;
-
 using mapnik::box2d;
 using mapnik::coord2d;
 using mapnik::query;
diff --git a/plugins/input/kismet/kismet_datasource.cpp b/plugins/input/kismet/kismet_datasource.cpp
index ec4ab5fb7..ea5f6a2cd 100644
--- a/plugins/input/kismet/kismet_datasource.cpp
+++ b/plugins/input/kismet/kismet_datasource.cpp
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
 
 // boost
 #include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
-#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
 #include <boost/tokenizer.hpp>
 #include <boost/bind.hpp>
 #include <boost/make_shared.hpp>
@@ -51,9 +50,6 @@
 #define MAX_KISMET_LINE 1024 // maximum length of a kismet command (assumed)
 #define KISMET_COMMAND  "*NETWORK: \001%1024[^\001]\001 %1024s %d %lf %lf"
 
-using boost::lexical_cast;
-using boost::bad_lexical_cast;
-
 using mapnik::datasource;
 using mapnik::parameters;
 
diff --git a/plugins/input/raster/raster_datasource.cpp b/plugins/input/raster/raster_datasource.cpp
index 7e8509133..f0d98c8b3 100644
--- a/plugins/input/raster/raster_datasource.cpp
+++ b/plugins/input/raster/raster_datasource.cpp
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
  *****************************************************************************/
 
 // boost
-#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
 #include <boost/filesystem/operations.hpp>
 #include <boost/make_shared.hpp>
 
@@ -34,8 +33,6 @@
 #include "raster_info.hpp"
 #include "raster_datasource.hpp"
 
-using boost::lexical_cast;
-using boost::bad_lexical_cast;
 using mapnik::layer_descriptor;
 using mapnik::featureset_ptr;
 using mapnik::query;
diff --git a/plugins/input/sqlite/sqlite_utils.hpp b/plugins/input/sqlite/sqlite_utils.hpp
index 6b9ca5ffb..d9074d09f 100644
--- a/plugins/input/sqlite/sqlite_utils.hpp
+++ b/plugins/input/sqlite/sqlite_utils.hpp
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
 #include <boost/shared_ptr.hpp>
 #include <boost/make_shared.hpp>
 #include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
-#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
 #include <boost/filesystem/operations.hpp>
 
 // sqlite
@@ -508,22 +507,12 @@ public:
             {
                 if (! rs->column_isnull(0))
                 {
-                    try
-                    {
-                        double xmin = boost::lexical_cast<double>(rs->column_double(0));
-                        double ymin = boost::lexical_cast<double>(rs->column_double(1));
-                        double xmax = boost::lexical_cast<double>(rs->column_double(2));
-                        double ymax = boost::lexical_cast<double>(rs->column_double(3));
-                        extent.init(xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax);
-                        return true;
-                    }
-                    catch (boost::bad_lexical_cast& ex)
-                    {
-                        std::ostringstream ss;
-                        ss << "SQLite Plugin: warning: could not determine extent from query: "
-                           << "'" << s.str() << "' \n problem was: " << ex.what() << std::endl;
-                        std::clog << ss.str();
-                    }
+                    double xmin = rs->column_double(0);
+                    double ymin = rs->column_double(1);
+                    double xmax = rs->column_double(2);
+                    double ymax = rs->column_double(3);
+                    extent.init (xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax);
+                    return true;
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -535,10 +524,10 @@ public:
             boost::shared_ptr<sqlite_resultset> rs(ds->execute_query(s.str()));
             if (rs->is_valid() && rs->step_next())
             {
-                double xmin = rs->column_double (0);
-                double ymin = rs->column_double (1);
-                double xmax = rs->column_double (2);
-                double ymax = rs->column_double (3);
+                double xmin = rs->column_double(0);
+                double ymin = rs->column_double(1);
+                double xmax = rs->column_double(2);
+                double ymax = rs->column_double(3);
                 extent.init (xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax);
                 return true;
             }
diff --git a/src/svg_parser.cpp b/src/svg_parser.cpp
index 22a2ed766..eb8dcb5dc 100644
--- a/src/svg_parser.cpp
+++ b/src/svg_parser.cpp
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@
 #include <boost/fusion/include/std_pair.hpp>
 #include <boost/foreach.hpp>
 #include <boost/algorithm/string/predicate.hpp>
-#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
 
 #include <iostream>
 #include <string>