diff --git a/include/mapnik/feature.hpp b/include/mapnik/feature.hpp
index 00819d5f3..2ddc5343e 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/feature.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/feature.hpp
@@ -138,7 +138,6 @@ public:
     {
         return raster_;
     }
-
     
     void set_raster(raster_ptr const& raster)
     {
diff --git a/plugins/input/shape/build.py b/plugins/input/shape/build.py
index 70771927e..5501bddf7 100644
--- a/plugins/input/shape/build.py
+++ b/plugins/input/shape/build.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ shape_src = Split(
         shape_featureset.cpp
         shape_index_featureset.cpp
         shape_io.cpp
+        shape_utils.cpp
   """
         )
 
diff --git a/plugins/input/shape/shape_featureset.cpp b/plugins/input/shape/shape_featureset.cpp
index 13ef0ce65..650aceb93 100644
--- a/plugins/input/shape/shape_featureset.cpp
+++ b/plugins/input/shape/shape_featureset.cpp
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 /*****************************************************************************
  *
  * This file is part of Mapnik (c++ mapping toolkit)
@@ -27,19 +26,17 @@
 // mapnik
 #include <mapnik/feature_factory.hpp>
 
-// boost
-#include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
-
 #include "shape_featureset.hpp"
+#include "shape_utils.hpp"
 
 using mapnik::geometry_type;
 using mapnik::feature_factory;
 using mapnik::context_ptr;
-
+                      
 template <typename filterT>
-shape_featureset<filterT>::shape_featureset(const filterT& filter,
-                                            const std::string& shape_name,
-                                            const std::set<std::string>& attribute_names,
+shape_featureset<filterT>::shape_featureset(filterT const& filter,
+                                            std::string const& shape_name,
+                                            std::set<std::string> const& attribute_names,
                                             std::string const& encoding,
                                             long file_length,
                                             int row_limit)
@@ -53,42 +50,7 @@ shape_featureset<filterT>::shape_featureset(const filterT& filter,
 {
     ctx_ = boost::make_shared<mapnik::context>();
     shape_.shp().skip(100);
-    
-    //attributes
-    typename std::set<std::string>::const_iterator pos = attribute_names.begin();
-    
-    while (pos != attribute_names.end())
-    {
-        bool found_name = false;
-        for (int i = 0; i < shape_.dbf().num_fields(); ++i)
-        {
-            if (shape_.dbf().descriptor(i).name_ == *pos)
-            {                
-                ctx_->push(*pos);
-                attr_ids_.push_back(i);
-                found_name = true;
-                break;
-            }
-        }
-        
-        if (! found_name)
-        {
-            std::ostringstream s;
-
-            s << "no attribute '" << *pos << "' in '"
-              << shape_name << "'. Valid attributes are: ";
-
-            std::vector<std::string> list;
-            for (int i = 0; i < shape_.dbf().num_fields(); ++i)
-            {
-                list.push_back(shape_.dbf().descriptor(i).name_);
-            }
-            s << boost::algorithm::join(list, ",") << ".";
-
-            throw mapnik::datasource_exception("Shape Plugin: " + s.str());
-        }
-        ++pos;
-    }
+    setup_attributes(ctx_, attribute_names, shape_name, shape_,attr_ids_);
 }
 
 template <typename filterT>
diff --git a/plugins/input/shape/shape_featureset.hpp b/plugins/input/shape/shape_featureset.hpp
index 6f3f02ab8..f6780be05 100644
--- a/plugins/input/shape/shape_featureset.hpp
+++ b/plugins/input/shape/shape_featureset.hpp
@@ -56,9 +56,9 @@ class shape_featureset : public Featureset,
     const int row_limit_;
 
 public:
-    shape_featureset(const filterT& filter,
-                     const std::string& shape_file,
-                     const std::set<std::string>& attribute_names,
+    shape_featureset(filterT const& filter,
+                     std::string const& shape_file,
+                     std::set<std::string> const& attribute_names,
                      std::string const& encoding,
                      long file_length,
                      int row_limit);
diff --git a/plugins/input/shape/shape_index_featureset.cpp b/plugins/input/shape/shape_index_featureset.cpp
index 8f72d34f1..fba16f73b 100644
--- a/plugins/input/shape/shape_index_featureset.cpp
+++ b/plugins/input/shape/shape_index_featureset.cpp
@@ -31,19 +31,19 @@
 #include <boost/interprocess/streams/bufferstream.hpp>
 
 #include "shape_index_featureset.hpp"
+#include "shape_utils.hpp"
 
 using mapnik::feature_factory;
 using mapnik::geometry_type;
 
 template <typename filterT>
-shape_index_featureset<filterT>::shape_index_featureset(const filterT& filter,
+shape_index_featureset<filterT>::shape_index_featureset(filterT const& filter,
                                                         shape_io& shape,
-                                                        const std::set<std::string>& attribute_names,
+                                                        std::set<std::string> const& attribute_names,
                                                         std::string const& encoding,
                                                         std::string const& shape_name,
                                                         int row_limit)
     : filter_(filter),
-      //shape_type_(0),
       shape_(shape),
       tr_(new transcoder(encoding)),
       count_(0),
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ shape_index_featureset<filterT>::shape_index_featureset(const filterT& filter,
 {
     ctx_ = boost::make_shared<mapnik::context>();
     shape_.shp().skip(100);
-
+    setup_attributes(ctx_, attribute_names, shape_name, shape_,attr_ids_);
+    
     boost::shared_ptr<shape_file> index = shape_.index();
     if (index)
     {
@@ -64,47 +65,12 @@ shape_index_featureset<filterT>::shape_index_featureset(const filterT& filter,
     }
 
     std::sort(ids_.begin(), ids_.end());
-
+    
 #ifdef MAPNIK_DEBUG
     std::clog << "Shape Plugin: query size=" << ids_.size() << std::endl;
 #endif
-
-    itr_ = ids_.begin();
     
-    // deal with attributes
-    std::set<std::string>::const_iterator pos = attribute_names.begin();
-    while (pos != attribute_names.end())
-    {
-        bool found_name = false;
-        for (int i = 0; i < shape_.dbf().num_fields(); ++i)
-        {
-            if (shape_.dbf().descriptor(i).name_ == *pos)
-            {
-                ctx_->push(*pos);
-                attr_ids_.insert(i);
-                found_name = true;
-                break;
-            }
-        }
-
-        if (! found_name)
-        {
-            std::ostringstream s;
-            s << "no attribute '" << *pos << "' in '" << shape_name << "'. Valid attributes are: ";
-
-            std::vector<std::string> list;
-            for (int i = 0; i < shape_.dbf().num_fields(); ++i)
-            {
-                list.push_back(shape_.dbf().descriptor(i).name_);
-            }
-
-            s << boost::algorithm::join(list, ",") << ".";
-
-            throw mapnik::datasource_exception("Shape Plugin: " + s.str());
-        }
-
-        ++pos;
-    }
+    itr_ = ids_.begin(); 
 }
 
 template <typename filterT>
@@ -217,8 +183,8 @@ feature_ptr shape_index_featureset<filterT>::next()
         if (attr_ids_.size())
         {
             shape_.dbf().move_to(shape_.id_);
-            std::set<int>::const_iterator itr = attr_ids_.begin();
-            std::set<int>::const_iterator end = attr_ids_.end();
+            std::vector<int>::const_iterator itr = attr_ids_.begin();
+            std::vector<int>::const_iterator end = attr_ids_.end();
             try
             {
                 for (; itr!=end; ++itr)
diff --git a/plugins/input/shape/shape_index_featureset.hpp b/plugins/input/shape/shape_index_featureset.hpp
index fb3dab3af..cbdaf4e6d 100644
--- a/plugins/input/shape/shape_index_featureset.hpp
+++ b/plugins/input/shape/shape_index_featureset.hpp
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ private:
     boost::scoped_ptr<transcoder> tr_;
     std::vector<int> ids_;
     std::vector<int>::iterator itr_;
-    std::set<int> attr_ids_;
+    std::vector<int> attr_ids_;
     mutable box2d<double> feature_ext_;
     mutable int total_geom_size;
     mutable int count_;