diff --git a/lib/mbtiles.js b/lib/mbtiles.js
index 2ca3dc2..8491ede 100644
--- a/lib/mbtiles.js
+++ b/lib/mbtiles.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ var sm = new (require('sphericalmercator'));
 var sqlite3 = require('sqlite3');
 var tiletype = require('tiletype');
 var ZXYStream = require('./zxystream');
+var queue = require('d3-queue').queue;
 
 function noop(err) {
     if (err) throw err;
@@ -448,7 +449,6 @@ MBTiles.prototype._commit = function(callback) {
                 break;
             }
         });
-
         mbtiles._db.run('COMMIT', function(err) {
             mbtiles._committing = false;
             mbtiles.emit('commit');
@@ -616,6 +616,92 @@ MBTiles.prototype.putGeocoderData = function(type, shard, data, callback) {
     });
 };
 
+// Implements carmen#geocoderDataIterator method.
+MBTiles.prototype.geocoderDataIterator = function(type) {
+    var chunkSize = 100;
+    var position = 0;
+    var getNextIfBelow = 0.2 * chunkSize;
+    var nextQueue = [];
+    var dataQueue = [];
+    var doneSentinel = {};
+    var _this = this;
+
+    var zlibQueue = queue(1);
+    var inflate = function(data, callback) {
+        zlibQueue.defer(function(cb) {
+            zlib.inflate(data, function(err, buf) {
+                callback(err, buf);
+                cb();
+            });
+        });
+    }
+
+    var sending = false;
+    var sendIfAvailable = function() {
+        if (sending) return;
+        sending = true;
+
+        while (nextQueue.length && dataQueue.length) {
+            var nextCb = nextQueue.shift(), data;
+            if (dataQueue[0] == doneSentinel) {
+                (function(nextCb) {
+                    setImmediate(function() {
+                        nextCb(null, {value: undefined, done: true});
+                    });
+                })(nextCb);
+            } else {
+                data = dataQueue.shift();
+                maybeRefillBuffer();
+
+                (function(nextCb, cbValue) {
+                    inflate(data.row.data, function(err, buf) {
+                        nextCb(
+                            data.err,
+                            {value: {shard: data.row.shard, data: buf}, done: false}
+                        );
+                    })
+                })(nextCb, data);
+            }
+        }
+
+        sending = false;
+    }
+
+    var refilling = false;
+    var refillBuffer = function() {
+        refilling = true;
+        var segmentCount = 0;
+        _this._db.each('SELECT shard, data FROM geocoder_data WHERE type = ? ORDER BY shard limit ?,?', type, position, chunkSize, function(err, row) {
+            dataQueue.push({row: row, err: err});
+            segmentCount += 1;
+            sendIfAvailable();
+        }, function() {
+            refilling = false;
+            if (segmentCount) {
+                maybeRefillBuffer();
+            } else {
+                // we didn't get anything this time, so we're done
+                dataQueue.push(doneSentinel);
+                sendIfAvailable();
+            }
+        });
+        position += chunkSize;
+    }
+
+    var maybeRefillBuffer = function() {
+        if (dataQueue.length <= getNextIfBelow && !refilling && dataQueue[dataQueue.length - 1] != doneSentinel) {
+            refillBuffer();
+        }
+    }
+
+    refillBuffer();
+
+    return {asyncNext: function(callback) {
+        nextQueue.push(callback);
+        sendIfAvailable();
+    }}
+}
+
 // Implements carmen#getIndexableDocs method.
 MBTiles.prototype.getIndexableDocs = function(pointer, callback) {
     pointer = pointer || {};
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 56af353..6d66b74 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
     "Konstantin Käfer <kkaefer>"
   ],
   "dependencies": {
+    "d3-queue": "~2.0.3",
     "tiletype": "0.1.x",
     "sqlite3": "3.x",
     "sphericalmercator": "~1.0.1"
diff --git a/test/geocoder.test.js b/test/geocoder.test.js
index 1b2dc89..8ee064f 100644
--- a/test/geocoder.test.js
+++ b/test/geocoder.test.js
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ var fs = require('fs');
 var util = require('util');
 var MBTiles = require('..');
 var tape = require('tape');
+var queue = require('d3-queue').queue;
+var crypto = require('crypto');
 
 var expected = {
     bounds: '-141.005548666451,41.6690855919108,-52.615930948992,83.1161164353916',
@@ -74,6 +76,53 @@ tape('putGeocoderData', function(assert) {
     });
 });
 
+tape('geocoderDataIterator', function(assert) {
+    to.startWriting(function(err) {
+        assert.ifError(err);
+        // get a bunch of shards of different sizes and put them in in an arbitrary order
+        var shardIds = {};
+        var q = queue()
+        while (true) {
+            var id = Math.floor(Math.random() * Math.pow(2, 16));
+            if (shardIds[id]) continue;
+
+            shardIds[id] = 1;
+            q.defer(function(id, cb) {
+                to.putGeocoderData("term", id, crypto.randomBytes(Math.floor(Math.random()* 1024 * 1024)), cb);
+            }, id);
+
+            if (Object.keys(shardIds).length >= 50) break;
+        }
+        q.awaitAll(function() {
+            to.stopWriting(function(err) {
+                var it = to.geocoderDataIterator("term");
+                var data = [];
+                var n = function(err, item) {
+                    assert.ifError(err);
+                    if (item.done) {
+                        assert.equal(data.length, 51, "iterator produces 51 shards");
+
+                        assert.equal(data[0].shard, 0);
+                        assert.equal(data[0].data.toString(), "asdf", "first shard data is preserved");
+
+                        var sorted = true;
+                        for (var i = 1; i < data.length; i++) {
+                            if (data[i - 1].shard >= data[i].shard) sorted = false;
+                        }
+                        assert.equal(sorted, true, "shards come back in order");
+
+                        assert.end();
+                    } else {
+                        data.push(item.value);
+                        it.asyncNext(n);
+                    }
+                }
+                it.asyncNext(n);
+            });
+        })
+    });
+})
+
 tape('getIndexableDocs', function(assert) {
     from.getIndexableDocs({ limit: 10 }, function(err, docs, pointer) {
         assert.ifError(err);