diff --git a/include/mapnik/geometry/centroid.hpp b/include/mapnik/geometry/centroid.hpp
index 3608d95ce..ab8b05ba4 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/geometry/centroid.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/geometry/centroid.hpp
@@ -107,26 +107,6 @@ private:
     template <typename Geom>
     result_type centroid_multi(Geom const & multi_geom) const
     {
-// https://github.com/mapnik/mapnik/issues/3169
-#if BOOST_VERSION <= 105900
-        if (mapnik::geometry::has_empty(multi_geom))
-        {
-            mapnik::geometry::multi_point<T> multi_pt;
-            multi_pt.reserve(multi_geom.size());
-            for (auto const& geom : multi_geom)
-            {
-                try
-                {
-                    point<T> c;
-                    boost::geometry::centroid(geom, c);
-                    multi_pt.push_back(std::move(c));
-
-                }
-                catch (boost::geometry::centroid_exception const & e) {}
-            }
-            return centroid_simple(multi_pt);
-        }
-#endif
         return centroid_simple(multi_geom);
     }
 };
diff --git a/include/mapnik/geometry/is_empty.hpp b/include/mapnik/geometry/is_empty.hpp
index 206fb185c..1ad0389aa 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/geometry/is_empty.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/geometry/is_empty.hpp
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ struct geometry_is_empty
 
     bool operator() (mapnik::geometry::polygon<double> const& geom) const
     {
-        return geom.empty();
+        return geom.empty() || geom.front().empty();
     }
 
     bool operator() (mapnik::geometry::multi_point<double> const& geom) const
@@ -78,96 +78,15 @@ struct geometry_is_empty
     }
 
 };
-
-struct geometry_has_empty
-{
-    bool operator() (mapnik::geometry::geometry<double> const& geom) const
-    {
-        return mapnik::util::apply_visitor(*this, geom);
-    }
-
-    bool operator() (mapnik::geometry::geometry_empty const&) const
-    {
-        return false;
-    }
-
-    bool operator() (mapnik::geometry::point<double> const&) const
-    {
-        return false;
-    }
-
-    bool operator() (mapnik::geometry::line_string<double> const&) const
-    {
-        return false;
-    }
-
-    bool operator() (mapnik::geometry::polygon<double> const&) const
-    {
-        return false;
-    }
-
-    bool operator() (mapnik::geometry::multi_point<double> const&) const
-    {
-        return false;
-    }
-
-    bool operator() (mapnik::geometry::multi_line_string<double> const& geom) const
-    {
-        return test_multigeometry(geom);
-    }
-
-    bool operator() (mapnik::geometry::multi_polygon<double> const& geom) const
-    {
-        return test_multigeometry(geom);
-    }
-
-    bool operator() (mapnik::geometry::geometry_collection<double> const& geom) const
-    {
-        for (auto const & item : geom)
-        {
-            if (geometry_is_empty()(item) || (*this)(item))
-            {
-                return true;
-            }
-        }
-        return false;
-    }
-
-    template <typename T>
-    bool operator() (T const&) const
-    {
-        return true;
-    }
-
-private:
-    template <typename T>
-    bool test_multigeometry(T const & geom) const
-    {
-        for (auto const & item : geom)
-        {
-            if (item.empty())
-            {
-                return true;
-            }
-        }
-        return false;
-    }
-};
-
 }
 
+// returns true if the geometry is the empty set
 template <typename GeomType>
 inline bool is_empty(GeomType const& geom)
 {
     return detail::geometry_is_empty()(geom);
 }
 
-template <typename GeomType>
-inline bool has_empty(GeomType const& geom)
-{
-    return detail::geometry_has_empty()(geom);
-}
-
 }}
 
 #endif // MAPNIK_GEOMETRY_IS_EMPTY_HPP
diff --git a/test/unit/geometry/has_empty.cpp b/test/unit/geometry/has_empty.cpp
deleted file mode 100644
index 79159d173..000000000
--- a/test/unit/geometry/has_empty.cpp
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,150 +0,0 @@
-#include "catch.hpp"
-
-#include <mapnik/geometry/is_empty.hpp>
-
-TEST_CASE("geometry has_empty") {
-
-SECTION("empty geometry") {
-
-    mapnik::geometry::geometry_empty geom;
-    REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-}
-
-SECTION("geometry collection") {
-
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::geometry_collection<double> geom;
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-    }
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::geometry_collection<double> geom;
-        mapnik::geometry::geometry_empty geom1;
-        geom.emplace_back(std::move(geom1));
-        REQUIRE(mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-    }
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::geometry_collection<double> geom;
-        mapnik::geometry::multi_line_string<double> mls;
-        mapnik::geometry::line_string<double> line;
-        mls.emplace_back(std::move(line));
-        geom.emplace_back(std::move(mls));
-        REQUIRE(mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-    }
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::geometry_collection<double> geom;
-        mapnik::geometry::multi_line_string<double> mls;
-        mapnik::geometry::line_string<double> line;
-        line.emplace_back(0, 0);
-        mls.emplace_back(std::move(line));
-        geom.emplace_back(std::move(mls));
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-    }
-}
-
-SECTION("point") {
-
-    mapnik::geometry::point<double> pt(10, 10);
-    REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(pt));
-}
-
-SECTION("linestring") {
-
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::line_string<double> line;
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(line));
-    }
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::line_string<double> line;
-        line.emplace_back(0, 0);
-        line.emplace_back(25, 25);
-        line.emplace_back(50, 50);
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(line));
-    }
-}
-
-SECTION("polygon") {
-
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::polygon<double> poly;
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(poly));
-    }
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::polygon<double> poly;
-        mapnik::geometry::linear_ring<double> ring;
-        poly.push_back(std::move(ring));
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(poly));
-    }
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::polygon<double> poly;
-        mapnik::geometry::linear_ring<double> ring;
-        ring.emplace_back(0, 0);
-        ring.emplace_back(1, 0);
-        ring.emplace_back(1, 1);
-        ring.emplace_back(0, 1);
-        ring.emplace_back(0, 0);
-        poly.push_back(std::move(ring));
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(poly));
-    }
-}
-
-SECTION("multi-point") {
-
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::multi_point<double> geom;
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-    }
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::multi_point<double> geom;
-        geom.emplace_back(0, 0);
-        geom.emplace_back(25, 25);
-        geom.emplace_back(50, 50);
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-    }
-}
-
-SECTION("multi-linestring") {
-
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::multi_line_string<double> geom;
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-    }
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::multi_line_string<double> geom;
-        mapnik::geometry::line_string<double> line;
-        geom.emplace_back(std::move(line));
-        REQUIRE(mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-    }
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::multi_line_string<double> geom;
-        mapnik::geometry::line_string<double> line;
-        line.emplace_back(0, 0);
-        geom.emplace_back(std::move(line));
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-    }
-}
-
-SECTION("multi-polygon") {
-
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::multi_polygon<double> geom;
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-    }
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::multi_polygon<double> geom;
-        mapnik::geometry::polygon<double> poly;
-        mapnik::geometry::linear_ring<double> ring;
-        poly.push_back(std::move(ring));
-        geom.emplace_back(std::move(poly));
-        REQUIRE(mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-    }
-    {
-        mapnik::geometry::multi_polygon<double> geom;
-        mapnik::geometry::polygon<double> poly;
-        mapnik::geometry::linear_ring<double> ring;
-        ring.emplace_back(0, 0);
-        poly.push_back(std::move(ring));
-        geom.emplace_back(std::move(poly));
-        REQUIRE(!mapnik::geometry::has_empty(geom));
-    }
-}
-}