diff --git a/include/mapnik/svg_renderer.hpp b/include/mapnik/svg_renderer.hpp
index 851e44151..70ce4db1a 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/svg_renderer.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/svg_renderer.hpp
@@ -94,13 +94,19 @@ namespace mapnik
 	    return output_stream_;
 	}
 
-	// constant variable that stores the xml declaration.
+	// XML declaration.
 	static const std::string XML_DECLARATION;
-	// constant variable that stores the dtd urls.
+	// DTD urls.
 	static const std::string SVG_DTD;
+	// SVG version to which the generated document will be compliant.
+	static const double SVG_VERSION;
+	// SVG XML namespace url.
+	static const std::string SVG_NAMESPACE_URL;
 
     private:
 	T& output_stream_;
+	const int width_;
+	const int height_;
     };
 }
 
diff --git a/src/svg/svg_renderer.cpp b/src/svg/svg_renderer.cpp
index 8798acc30..cf2077527 100644
--- a/src/svg/svg_renderer.cpp
+++ b/src/svg/svg_renderer.cpp
@@ -32,9 +32,11 @@
 
 // boost.spirit
 #include <boost/spirit/include/karma.hpp>
-#include <boost/spirit/include/karma_string.hpp>
+#include <boost/spirit/repository/include/karma_confix.hpp>
 
 namespace karma = boost::spirit::karma;
+namespace repository = boost::spirit::repository;
+namespace ascii = karma::ascii;
 
 namespace mapnik
 {
@@ -48,10 +50,21 @@ namespace mapnik
     template <typename T>
     const std::string svg_renderer<T>::SVG_DTD = "<!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN\" \"http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd\">";	
 
+    /*
+     * I'm not sure if these values should be stored or directly put inside
+     * a generator expression.
+     */
+    template <typename T>
+    const double svg_renderer<T>::SVG_VERSION = 1.1;
+    template <typename T>
+    const std::string svg_renderer<T>::SVG_NAMESPACE_URL = "http://www.w3.org/2000/svg";
+
     template <typename T>
     svg_renderer<T>::svg_renderer(Map const& m, T & output_stream) :
 	feature_style_processor<svg_renderer>(m),
-	output_stream_(output_stream)
+	output_stream_(output_stream),
+	width_(m.width()),
+	height_(m.height())
     {
 	// nothing yet.
     }
@@ -59,8 +72,6 @@ namespace mapnik
     template <typename T>
     svg_renderer<T>::~svg_renderer() {}
 
-    // only empty methods for now.
-
     template <typename T>
     void svg_renderer<T>::start_map_processing(Map const& map)
     {
@@ -68,17 +79,44 @@ namespace mapnik
 	std::clog << "start map processing" << std::endl;
 	#endif
 
-	output_stream_ << karma::format(karma::lit(XML_DECLARATION) << karma::eol << karma::lit(SVG_DTD), "");	
+	using repository::confix;
+	using karma::format;
+	using karma::lit;
+	using karma::eol;
+	using karma::int_;
+	using karma::double_;
+	using ascii::string;
+	using ascii::space;
+
+	// should I move these lines to the constructor?
+
+	// generate XML header.
+	output_stream_ << format(lit(XML_DECLARATION) << eol << lit(SVG_DTD) << eol);
+
+	// generate SVG root element opening tag.
+	output_stream_
+	    << format(
+		confix("<svg width=\"", "\"")[int_ << string],
+		width_, "px")
+	    << format(
+		confix(" height=\"", "\"")[int_ << string],
+		height_, "px")
+	    << format(
+		confix(" version=\"", "\"")[double_],
+		SVG_VERSION)
+	    << format(
+		confix(" xmlns=\"", "\">")[string],
+		SVG_NAMESPACE_URL);
     }
 
     template <typename T>
     void svg_renderer<T>::end_map_processing(Map const& map)
     {
-	// nothing yet.
-
 	#ifdef MAPNIK_DEBUG
 	std::clog << "end map processing" << std::endl;
 	#endif
+
+	// generate SVG root element closing tag.
     }
 
     template <typename T>
diff --git a/tests/cpp_tests/svg_renderer_tests/combined_test.cpp b/tests/cpp_tests/svg_renderer_tests/combined_test.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d4c10fc3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cpp_tests/svg_renderer_tests/combined_test.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#define BOOST_TEST_MODULE combined_tests
+
+// boost.test
+#include <boost/test/included/unit_test.hpp>
+
+// mapnik
+#include <mapnik/map.hpp>
+#include <mapnik/svg_renderer.hpp>
+
+// std
+#include <string>
+#include <sstream>
+
+/**
+ * This test case tests all the generators inside svg_renderer,
+ * verifying the correctness of the whole SVG document.
+ *
+ * The test sets the svg_renderer object with a simple Map that
+ * has only its dimensions specified and calls the apply()
+ * method to produce the output.
+ *
+ * The output stream is a stringstream (the output is generated
+ * into a stringstream).
+ */
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(combined_test_case)
+{
+    using namespace mapnik;
+    typedef svg_renderer<std::stringstream> svg_ren;
+
+    Map map(800, 600);
+
+    std::stringstream output_stream;
+    svg_ren renderer(map, output_stream);
+    renderer.apply();
+
+    std::string expected_output = 
+	svg_ren::XML_DECLARATION 
+	+ "\n" 
+	+ svg_ren::SVG_DTD 
+	+ "\n" 
+	+ "<svg width=\"800px\" height=\"600px\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"" 
+	+ svg_ren::SVG_NAMESPACE_URL 
+	+ "\">";
+
+    std::string actual_output = renderer.get_output_stream().str();
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(actual_output, expected_output);
+}
+