diff --git a/bindings/python/mapnik_feature.cpp b/bindings/python/mapnik_feature.cpp
index d322b416e..015982b67 100644
--- a/bindings/python/mapnik_feature.cpp
+++ b/bindings/python/mapnik_feature.cpp
@@ -22,31 +22,189 @@
 //$Id$
 
 // boost
-#include <boost/python/suite/indexing/map_indexing_suite.hpp>
+#include <boost/python/suite/indexing/indexing_suite.hpp>
+#include <boost/python/iterator.hpp>
+#include <boost/python/call_method.hpp>
+#include <boost/python/tuple.hpp>
 #include <boost/python.hpp>
 // mapnik
 #include <mapnik/feature.hpp>
 
+namespace boost { namespace python {
+      struct value_converter : public boost::static_visitor<PyObject*>
+      {
+            PyObject * operator() (int val) const
+            {
+               return ::PyInt_FromLong(val);
+            }
+            
+            PyObject * operator() (double val) const
+            {
+               return ::PyFloat_FromDouble(val);
+            }
+            
+            PyObject * operator() (std::wstring const& s) const
+            {
+               return ::PyUnicode_FromWideChar(s.data(),implicit_cast<ssize_t>(s.size()));
+            }
+      };
+      
+      struct mapnik_value_to_python
+      {
+            static PyObject* convert(mapnik::value const& v)
+            {
+               return boost::apply_visitor(value_converter(),v.base());
+            }
+      };
+      
+      // Forward declaration
+      template <class Container, bool NoProxy, class DerivedPolicies>
+      class map_indexing_suite2;
+
+      namespace detail
+      {
+         template <class Container, bool NoProxy>
+         class final_map_derived_policies
+            : public map_indexing_suite2<Container,
+                                         NoProxy, final_map_derived_policies<Container, NoProxy> > {};
+      }
+    
+      template <
+         class Container,
+         bool NoProxy = false,
+         class DerivedPolicies
+         = detail::final_map_derived_policies<Container, NoProxy> >
+      class map_indexing_suite2
+         : public indexing_suite<
+         Container
+         , DerivedPolicies
+         , NoProxy
+         , true
+         , typename Container::value_type::second_type
+         , typename Container::key_type
+         , typename Container::key_type
+         >
+      {
+         public:
+
+            typedef typename Container::value_type value_type;
+            typedef typename Container::value_type::second_type data_type;
+            typedef typename Container::key_type key_type;
+            typedef typename Container::key_type index_type;
+            typedef typename Container::size_type size_type;
+            typedef typename Container::difference_type difference_type;
+
+            template <class Class>
+            static void
+            extension_def(Class& cl)
+            {
+               
+            }
+
+            static data_type&
+            get_item(Container& container, index_type i_)
+            {
+               typename Container::iterator i = container.find(i_);
+               if (i == container.end())
+               {
+                  PyErr_SetString(PyExc_KeyError, "Invalid key");
+                  throw_error_already_set();
+               }
+               return i->second;
+            }
+            
+            static void
+            set_item(Container& container, index_type i, data_type const& v)
+            {
+               container[i] = v;
+            }
+            
+            static void
+            delete_item(Container& container, index_type i)
+            {
+               container.erase(i);
+            }
+            
+            static size_t
+            size(Container& container)
+            {
+               return container.size();
+            }
+            
+            static bool
+            contains(Container& container, key_type const& key)
+            {
+               return container.find(key) != container.end();
+            }
+            
+            static bool
+            compare_index(Container& container, index_type a, index_type b)
+            {
+               return container.key_comp()(a, b);
+            }
+            
+            static index_type
+            convert_index(Container& /*container*/, PyObject* i_)
+            {
+               extract<key_type const&> i(i_);
+               if (i.check())
+               {
+                  return i();
+               }
+               else
+               {
+                  extract<key_type> i(i_);
+                  if (i.check())
+                     return i();
+               }
+               
+               PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "Invalid index type");
+               throw_error_already_set();
+               return index_type();
+            }
+      };
+      
+
+      template <typename T1, typename T2>
+      struct std_pair_to_tuple
+      {
+            static PyObject* convert(std::pair<T1, T2> const& p)
+            {
+               return boost::python::incref(
+                  boost::python::make_tuple(p.first, p.second).ptr());
+            }
+      };
+      
+      template <typename T1, typename T2>
+      struct std_pair_to_python_converter
+      {
+            std_pair_to_python_converter()
+            {
+               boost::python::to_python_converter<
+               std::pair<T1, T2>,
+                  std_pair_to_tuple<T1, T2> >();
+            }
+      };
+   }
+}
+
 void export_feature()
 {
    using namespace boost::python;
    using mapnik::Feature;
+   
+   std_pair_to_python_converter<std::string const,mapnik::value>();
+   to_python_converter<mapnik::value,mapnik_value_to_python>();
    class_<Feature,boost::shared_ptr<Feature>,
       boost::noncopyable>("Feature",no_init)
       .def("id",&Feature::id)
       .def("__str__",&Feature::to_string)
-      //.def(map_indexing_suite<mapnik::Feature>())
       .add_property("properties", 
                     make_function(&Feature::props,return_value_policy<reference_existing_object>()))
       ;
-    
+
    class_<std::map<std::string, mapnik::value> >("Properties")
-      .def(map_indexing_suite<std::map<std::string, mapnik::value
-	   > >())
-      ;
-    
-   class_<mapnik::value>("Value")
-      .def("__str__",&mapnik::value::to_string)
-      .def("unicode",&mapnik::value::to_unicode)
+      .def(map_indexing_suite2<std::map<std::string, mapnik::value>, true >())
+      .def("iteritems",iterator<std::map<std::string,mapnik::value> > ())
       ;
 }