diff --git a/tests/python_tests/postgis_test.py b/tests/python_tests/postgis_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..53549afad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/python_tests/postgis_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+from nose.tools import *
+import atexit
+import time
+from utilities import execution_path
+from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
+import os, mapnik2
+
+MAPNIK_TEST_DBNAME = 'mapnik-tmp-postgis-test-db'
+POSTGIS_TEMPLATE_DBNAME = 'template_postgis'
+
+def setup():
+    # All of the paths used are relative, if we run the tests
+    # from another directory we need to chdir()
+    os.chdir(execution_path('.'))
+
+def call(cmd,silent=False):
+    stdin, stderr = Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE).communicate()
+    if not stderr:
+        return stdin.strip()
+    elif not silent:
+        raise RuntimeError(stderr.strip())
+
+def psql_can_connect():
+    """Test ability to connect to a postgis template db with no options.
+    
+    Basically, to run these tests your user must have full read
+    access over unix sockets without supplying a password. This
+    keeps these tests simple and focused on postgis not on postgres
+    auth issues.
+    """
+    try:
+        call('psql %s -c "select postgis_version()"' % POSTGIS_TEMPLATE_DBNAME)
+        return True
+    except RuntimeError, e:
+        print 'Notice: skipping postgis tests as basic auth is not correctly set up. Error was: %s' % e.message
+        return False
+
+def shp2pgsql_on_path():
+    """Test for presence of shp2pgsql on the user path.
+    
+    We require this program to load test data into a temporarily database.
+    """
+    try:
+        call('shp2pgsql')
+        return True
+    except RuntimeError, e:
+        print 'Notice: skipping postgis tests because shp2pgsql not found. Error was: %s' % e.message
+        return False
+
+def createdb_and_dropdb_on_path():
+    """Test for presence of dropdb/createdb on user path.
+    
+    We require these programs to setup and teardown the testing db.
+    """
+    try:
+        call('createdb --help')
+        call('dropdb --help')
+        return True
+    except RuntimeError, e:
+        print 'Notice: skipping postgis tests because createdb or dropdb not found. Error was: %s' % e.message
+        return False
+
+def postgis_setup():
+    call('dropdb %s' % MAPNIK_TEST_DBNAME,silent=True)
+    call('createdb -T %s %s' % (POSTGIS_TEMPLATE_DBNAME,MAPNIK_TEST_DBNAME),silent=False)
+    call('shp2pgsql -s 3857 -g geom -W LATIN1 ./tests/data/shp/world_merc.shp world_merc | psql -q %s' % MAPNIK_TEST_DBNAME, silent=True)
+    call('''psql %s -c "CREATE TABLE \"empty\" (key serial);SELECT AddGeometryColumn('','empty','geom','0','GEOMETRY',4);"''' % MAPNIK_TEST_DBNAME,silent=True)
+
+def postgis_takedown():
+    pass
+    # fails as the db is in use: https://github.com/mapnik/mapnik/issues/960
+    #call('dropdb %s' % MAPNIK_TEST_DBNAME)
+
+if 'postgis' in mapnik2.DatasourceCache.instance().plugin_names() \
+        and createdb_and_dropdb_on_path() \
+        and psql_can_connect() \
+        and shp2pgsql_on_path():
+    
+    # initialize test database
+    postgis_setup()
+
+    def test_feature():
+        ds = mapnik2.PostGIS(dbname=MAPNIK_TEST_DBNAME,table='world_merc')
+        fs = ds.featureset()
+        feature = fs.next()
+        eq_(feature['gid'],1)
+        eq_(feature['fips'],u'AC')
+        eq_(feature['iso2'],u'AG')
+        eq_(feature['iso3'],u'ATG')
+        eq_(feature['un'],28)
+        eq_(feature['name'],u'Antigua and Barbuda')
+        eq_(feature['area'],44)
+        eq_(feature['pop2005'],83039)
+        eq_(feature['region'],19)
+        eq_(feature['subregion'],29)
+        eq_(feature['lon'],-61.783)
+        eq_(feature['lat'],17.078)
+
+    def test_subquery():
+        ds = mapnik2.PostGIS(dbname=MAPNIK_TEST_DBNAME,table='(select * from world_merc) as w')
+        fs = ds.featureset()
+        feature = fs.next()
+        eq_(feature['gid'],1)
+        eq_(feature['fips'],u'AC')
+        eq_(feature['iso2'],u'AG')
+        eq_(feature['iso3'],u'ATG')
+        eq_(feature['un'],28)
+        eq_(feature['name'],u'Antigua and Barbuda')
+        eq_(feature['area'],44)
+        eq_(feature['pop2005'],83039)
+        eq_(feature['region'],19)
+        eq_(feature['subregion'],29)
+        eq_(feature['lon'],-61.783)
+        eq_(feature['lat'],17.078)
+
+        ds = mapnik2.PostGIS(dbname=MAPNIK_TEST_DBNAME,table='(select gid,geom,fips as _fips from world_merc) as w')
+        fs = ds.featureset()
+        feature = fs.next()
+        eq_(feature['gid'],1)
+        eq_(feature['_fips'],u'AC')
+        eq_(len(feature),2)
+
+    def test_empty_db():
+        ds = mapnik2.PostGIS(dbname=MAPNIK_TEST_DBNAME,table='empty')
+        fs = ds.featureset()
+        feature = fs.next()
+        eq_(feature,None)
+
+
+    atexit.register(postgis_takedown)
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    setup()
+    [eval(run)() for run in dir() if 'test_' in run]
+