diff --git a/include/mapnik/internal/dump_xml.hpp b/include/mapnik/internal/dump_xml.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..022591f7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/mapnik/internal/dump_xml.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#ifndef DUMP_XML_HPP
+#define DUMP_XML_HPP
+#include <boost/property_tree/ptree.hpp>
+
+/* Debug dump ptree XML representation.
+*/
+void dump_xml(boost::property_tree::ptree const& xml, unsigned level=0)
+{
+    std::string indent;
+    int i;
+    for (i=0; i<level; i++)
+    {
+        indent += "    ";
+    }
+    if (xml.data().length()) std::cout << indent << "data: '" << xml.data() << "'\n";
+    boost::property_tree::ptree::const_iterator itr = xml.begin();
+    boost::property_tree::ptree::const_iterator end = xml.end();
+    for (; itr!=end; itr++)
+    {
+        std::cout << indent <<"[" << itr->first << "]" << "\n";
+        dump_xml(itr->second, level+1);
+        std::cout << indent << "[/" << itr->first << "]" << "\n";
+    }
+}
+
+
+#endif // DUMP_XML_HPP