diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index bfba4b822..b060bc284 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -1,4 +1,26 @@
-Installation Instructions
-*************************
+INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
+
+Prerequisites
+First of all you will have to install 'scons'. See scons user guide on how to get started.
+
+Mapnik is relying on a number of boost libraries (filesystem, python, regex, spirit etc). You can download the latest release (1.32.0) or grab a CVS snapshot from http://boost.org. You don't need to build anything, just unzip the source into read/write location on your disk.
+
+The same requirements apply for AGG library (available from http://www.antigrain.com)
+
+Other dependencies include:
+1. libltdl  (dynamic linking)
+2. libz
+3. libpng
+4. libjpeg
+5. freetype2
+6. postgresql (+postgis)
+
+Building
+Once you satisfy all dependencies you can build mapnik by issuing the following  command:
+
+:/> scons DATASOURCES=postgis PREFIX=/where/to/install install
+
+This should compile, link and install all relevant libraries/headers in PREFIX.
+
+By default release versions are built, but you can specify "debug=yes" to build debug versions. At this time only GCC toolkit is supported and you'll have to modify SConstruct/SConscript files if you're planning to use something else.
 
-TODO!
diff --git a/README b/README
index e69de29bb..762b4b069 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+See INSTALL file for installation instructions
diff --git a/datasources/postgis/postgis.cpp b/datasources/postgis/postgis.cpp
index c9b7785f6..b782aaf26 100644
--- a/datasources/postgis/postgis.cpp
+++ b/datasources/postgis/postgis.cpp
@@ -126,6 +126,9 @@ PostgisDatasource::PostgisDatasource(const Parameters& params)
 		    case 23:    // int4
 			desc_.add_descriptor(attribute_descriptor(fld_name,Integer,false,length));
  			break;
+                    case 701:  // float8
+ 			desc_.add_descriptor(attribute_descriptor(fld_name,Double,false,length));
+		    case 1042:  // bpchar
 		    case 1043:  // varchar
 			desc_.add_descriptor(attribute_descriptor(fld_name,String));
 			break;
diff --git a/datasources/postgis/postgisfs.cpp b/datasources/postgis/postgisfs.cpp
index d10e7f785..769799aa2 100644
--- a/datasources/postgis/postgisfs.cpp
+++ b/datasources/postgis/postgisfs.cpp
@@ -30,11 +30,7 @@ PostgisFeatureset::PostgisFeatureset(const ref_ptr<ResultSet>& rs,
     : rs_(rs),
       num_attrs_(num_attrs),
       totalGeomSize_(0),
-      count_(0) 
-{
-    
-}
-
+      count_(0)  {}
 
 Feature* PostgisFeatureset::next()
 {
@@ -42,7 +38,7 @@ Feature* PostgisFeatureset::next()
     if (rs_->next())
     { 
 	const char* buf = rs_->getValue(0);
-        int id = (buf[0]&255) << 24 | (buf[1]&255) << 16 | (buf[2] & 255) << 8 | buf[3] & 255;
+        int id = int4net(buf);
         
         int size=rs_->getFieldLength(1);
         const char *data=rs_->getValue(1);
@@ -59,12 +55,30 @@ Feature* PostgisFeatureset::next()
 		const char* buf=rs_->getValue(start + pos);
 		int field_size = rs_->getFieldLength(start + pos);
 		int oid = rs_->getTypeOID(start + pos);
-		if (oid==23)
+		
+		if (oid==23) //int4
 		{
-		    int val = (buf[0]&255) << 24 | (buf[1]&255) << 16 | (buf[2] & 255) << 8 | buf[3] & 255;
+		    int val = int4net(buf);
 		    feature->add_property(val);
 		}
-		else if (oid==1043)
+		else if (oid==21) //int2
+		{
+		    int val = int2net(buf);
+		    feature->add_property(val);
+		}
+		else if (oid == 700) // float4
+		{
+		    float val;
+		    float4net(val,buf);
+		    feature->add_property((double)val);
+		}
+		else if (oid == 701) // float8
+		{
+		    double val;
+		    float8net(val,buf);
+		    feature->add_property(val);
+		}
+		else if (oid==1042 || oid==1043) //bpchar or varchar
 		{
 		    feature->add_property(string(buf));
 		}
diff --git a/include/mapnik.hpp b/include/mapnik.hpp
index ccb524502..155c890cf 100644
--- a/include/mapnik.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik.hpp
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include <map>
 #include <vector>
 #include <cassert>
+#include "global.hpp"
 #include "ptr.hpp"
 #include "factory.hpp"
 #include "filter.hpp"
@@ -65,12 +66,10 @@
 #include "filter_factory.hpp"
 #include "text_symbolizer.hpp"
 #include "label_placement.hpp"
-
 #include "feature_layer_desc.hpp"
 
 namespace mapnik
 {
-    //typedef geometry_type geometry_type;
 }
 
 #endif                                            //MAPNIK_HPP