diff --git a/test/iterators/test_iterator_common.hpp b/test/iterators/test_iterator_common.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..191f7ed8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/iterators/test_iterator_common.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,206 @@
+// Boost.Geometry (aka GGL, Generic Geometry Library)
+// Unit Test
+
+// Copyright (c) 2014, Oracle and/or its affiliates.
+
+// Contributed and/or modified by Menelaos Karavelas, on behalf of Oracle
+
+// Licensed under the Boost Software License version 1.0.
+// http://www.boost.org/users/license.html
+
+#ifndef GEOMETRY_TEST_ITERATORS_TEST_ITERATOR_COMMON_HPP
+#define GEOMETRY_TEST_ITERATORS_TEST_ITERATOR_COMMON_HPP
+
+#include <cstddef>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <iterator>
+#include <string>
+#include <algorithm>
+
+#include <boost/test/included/unit_test.hpp>
+
+// helper functions for testing the concatenate and flatten iterators
+
+template <typename Iterator>
+std::ostream& print_container(std::ostream& os,
+                              Iterator begin, Iterator end,
+                              std::string const& header)
+{
+    std::cout << header;
+    for (Iterator it = begin; it != end; ++it)
+    {
+        os << " " << *it;
+    }
+    return os;
+}
+
+
+template <typename Iterator>
+std::ostream& print_nested_container(std::ostream& os,
+                                     Iterator begin, Iterator end,
+                                     std::string const& header)
+{
+    typedef typename std::iterator_traits<Iterator>::value_type inner_container;
+    typedef typename inner_container::const_iterator inner_iterator;
+
+    std::cout << header;
+    for (Iterator outer = begin; outer != end; ++outer)
+    {
+        os << " (";
+        for (inner_iterator inner = outer->begin();
+             inner != outer->end(); ++inner)
+        {
+            if ( inner != outer->begin() )
+            {
+                os << " ";
+            }
+            os << *inner;
+        }
+        os << ") ";
+    }
+    return os;
+}
+
+
+template <typename T>
+struct is_odd
+{
+    inline bool operator()(T const& t) const
+    {
+        return t % 2 != 0;
+    }
+};
+
+
+template <typename T>
+struct is_even
+{
+    inline bool operator()(T const& t) const
+    {
+        return !is_odd<T>()(t);
+    }
+};
+
+
+
+
+template <typename CombinedIterator, typename CombinedContainer>
+inline void test_size(CombinedIterator first, CombinedIterator beyond,
+                      CombinedContainer const& combined)
+{
+    std::size_t size = std::distance(first, beyond);
+    BOOST_CHECK( combined.size() == std::distance(first, beyond) );
+
+    size = 0;
+    for (CombinedIterator it = first; it != beyond; ++it)
+    {
+        ++size;
+    }
+    BOOST_CHECK( combined.size() == size );
+
+    size = 0;
+    for (CombinedIterator it = beyond; it != first; --it)
+    {
+        ++size;
+    }
+    BOOST_CHECK( combined.size() == size );
+}
+
+
+
+template <typename CombinedIterator, typename CombinedContainer>
+inline void test_equality(CombinedIterator first, CombinedIterator beyond,
+                          CombinedContainer const& combined)
+{
+    typedef typename CombinedContainer::const_iterator iterator;
+
+    iterator it = combined.begin();
+    for (CombinedIterator cit = first; cit != beyond; ++cit, ++it)
+    {
+        BOOST_CHECK( *cit == *it );
+    }
+
+    if ( combined.begin() != combined.end() )
+    {
+        BOOST_CHECK( first != beyond );
+        iterator it = combined.end();
+        CombinedIterator cit = beyond;
+        for (--cit, --it; cit != first; --cit, --it)
+        {
+            BOOST_CHECK( *cit == *it );
+        }
+        BOOST_CHECK( cit == first && it == combined.begin() );
+        BOOST_CHECK( *cit == *it );
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        BOOST_CHECK( first == beyond );
+    }
+}
+
+
+
+template <typename CombinedIterator, typename CombinedContainer>
+inline void test_using_remove_if(CombinedIterator first,
+                                 CombinedIterator beyond,
+                                 CombinedContainer& combined)
+{
+    typedef typename std::iterator_traits
+        <
+            CombinedIterator
+        >::value_type value_type;
+    
+#ifdef GEOMETRY_TEST_DEBUG
+    std::cout << std::endl;
+    std::cout << "odd elements removed:" << std::endl;
+    print_container(std::cout, first, beyond, "before:") << std::endl;
+#endif
+    typename std::iterator_traits<CombinedIterator>::difference_type
+        num_even = std::count_if(first, beyond, is_even<value_type>());
+
+    CombinedIterator new_beyond =
+        std::remove_if(first, beyond, is_odd<value_type>());
+
+    std::size_t new_size = std::distance(first, new_beyond);
+
+    for (CombinedIterator it = first; it != new_beyond; ++it)
+    {
+        BOOST_CHECK( !is_odd<value_type>()(*it) );
+    }
+    BOOST_CHECK( new_size == static_cast<std::size_t>(num_even) );
+
+#ifdef GEOMETRY_TEST_DEBUG
+    print_container(std::cout, first, new_beyond, "after :") << std::endl;
+#endif
+
+    combined.erase(std::remove_if(combined.begin(), combined.end(),
+                                  is_odd<value_type>()),
+                   combined.end());
+    test_equality(first, new_beyond, combined);
+}
+
+
+template <typename CombinedIterator, typename CombinedContainer>
+inline void test_using_reverse(CombinedIterator first,
+                               CombinedIterator beyond,
+                               CombinedContainer& combined)
+{
+    std::reverse(first, beyond);
+    std::reverse(combined.begin(), combined.end());
+    test_equality(first, beyond, combined);
+
+#ifdef GEOMETRY_TEST_DEBUG
+    print_container(std::cout, first, beyond, "reversed:") << std::endl;
+#endif
+
+    std::reverse(first, beyond);
+    std::reverse(combined.begin(), combined.end());
+    test_equality(first, beyond, combined);
+
+#ifdef GEOMETRY_TEST_DEBUG
+    print_container(std::cout, first, beyond, "re-reversed:") << std::endl;
+#endif
+}
+
+
+#endif // GEOMETRY_TEST_ITERATORS_TEST_ITERATOR_COMMON_HPP