diff --git a/python/core/qgsfeature.sip b/python/core/qgsfeature.sip
index d8b694979810..5e74998428d0 100644
--- a/python/core/qgsfeature.sip
+++ b/python/core/qgsfeature.sip
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ typedef QMap<int, QString> QgsFieldNameMap;
 
 typedef QList<QgsFeature> QgsFeatureList;
 
+typedef QMap<int, QgsField> QgsFieldMap;
+
 
 class QgsFeature
 {
diff --git a/python/core/qgsvectordataprovider.sip b/python/core/qgsvectordataprovider.sip
index d24b839ef8bc..ce65c1b3d644 100644
--- a/python/core/qgsvectordataprovider.sip
+++ b/python/core/qgsvectordataprovider.sip
@@ -49,46 +49,22 @@ class QgsVectorDataProvider : QgsDataProvider
      */
     virtual QString storageType() const;
 
-    /** Select features based on a bounding rectangle. Features can be retrieved with calls to nextFeature.
-     * @param fetchAttributes list of attributes which should be fetched
-     * @param rect spatial filter
-     * @param fetchGeometry true if the feature geometry should be fetched
-     * @param useIntersect true if an accurate intersection test should be used,
-     *                     false if a test based on bounding box is sufficient
-     */
-    virtual void select( QList<int> fetchAttributes = QList<int>(),
-                         QgsRectangle rect = QgsRectangle(),
-                         bool fetchGeometry = true,
-                         bool useIntersect = false ) = 0;
-
     /**
-     * This function does nothing useful, it's kept only for compatibility.
-     * @todo to be removed
+     * Query the provider for features specified in request.
      */
-    virtual long updateFeatureCount() /Deprecated/;
+    virtual QgsFeatureIterator getFeatures( const QgsFeatureRequest& request = QgsFeatureRequest() ) = 0;
 
-    /**
-     * Gets the feature at the given feature ID.
-     * @param featureId id of the feature
-     * @param feature feature which will receive the data
-     * @param fetchGeometry if true, geometry will be fetched from the provider
-     * @param fetchAttributes a list containing the indexes of the attribute fields to copy
-     * @return True when feature was found, otherwise false
-     *
-     * Default implementation traverses all features until it finds the one with correct ID.
-     * In case the provider supports reading the feature directly, override this function.
-     */
-    virtual bool featureAtId( qint64 featureId,
-                              QgsFeature& feature,
-                              bool fetchGeometry = true,
-                              QList<int> fetchAttributes = QList<int>());
+    // temporary
+    QgsFeatureIterator select( QList<int> fetchAttributes = QList<int>(),
+                               QgsRectangle rect = QgsRectangle(),
+                               bool fetchGeometry = true,
+                               bool useIntersect = false ) /Deprecated/;
 
     /**
-     * Get the next feature resulting from a select operation.
-     * @param feature feature which will receive data from the provider
-     * @return true when there was a feature to fetch, false when end was hit
+     * This function does nothing useful, it's kept only for compatibility.
+     * @todo to be removed
      */
-    virtual bool nextFeature( QgsFeature& feature ) = 0;
+    virtual long updateFeatureCount() /Deprecated/;
 
     /**
      * Get feature type.
@@ -120,9 +96,6 @@ class QgsVectorDataProvider : QgsDataProvider
      */
     virtual QString dataComment() const;
 
-    /** Restart reading features from previous select operation */
-    virtual void rewind() = 0;
-
     /**
      * Returns the minimum value of an attribute
      * @param index the index of the attribute
diff --git a/src/core/composer/qgsatlascomposition.cpp b/src/core/composer/qgsatlascomposition.cpp
index 96ca5db949d0..79dba823b680 100644
--- a/src/core/composer/qgsatlascomposition.cpp
+++ b/src/core/composer/qgsatlascomposition.cpp
@@ -69,9 +69,7 @@ void QgsAtlasComposition::beginRender()
   mTransform.setSourceCrs( coverage_crs );
   mTransform.setDestCRS( destination_crs );
 
-  QgsVectorDataProvider* provider = mCoverageLayer->dataProvider();
-
-  QgsFieldMap fieldmap = provider->fields();
+  QgsFieldMap fieldmap = mCoverageLayer->pendingFields();
 
   if ( mFilenamePattern.size() > 0 )
   {
@@ -88,12 +86,12 @@ void QgsAtlasComposition::beginRender()
   }
 
   // select all features with all attributes
-  provider->select( provider->attributeIndexes() );
+  mCoverageLayer->select( mCoverageLayer->pendingAllAttributesList() );
 
   // We cannot use nextFeature() directly since the feature pointer is rewinded by the rendering process
   // We thus store the feature ids for future extraction
   QgsFeature feat;
-  while ( provider->nextFeature( feat ) )
+  while ( mCoverageLayer->nextFeature( feat ) )
   {
     mFeatureIds.push_back( feat.id() );
   }
@@ -115,7 +113,7 @@ void QgsAtlasComposition::beginRender()
 
   // special columns for expressions
   QgsExpression::setSpecialColumn( "$numpages", QVariant( mComposition->numPages() ) );
-  QgsExpression::setSpecialColumn( "$numfeatures", QVariant(( int )provider->featureCount() ) );
+  QgsExpression::setSpecialColumn( "$numfeatures", QVariant(( int )mCoverageLayer->pendingFeatureCount() ) );
 }
 
 void QgsAtlasComposition::endRender()
@@ -161,9 +159,8 @@ void QgsAtlasComposition::prepareForFeature( size_t featureI )
     return;
   }
 
-  QgsVectorDataProvider* provider = mCoverageLayer->dataProvider();
   // retrieve the next feature, based on its id
-  provider->featureAtId( mFeatureIds[ featureI ], mCurrentFeature, /* fetchGeometry = */ true, provider->attributeIndexes() );
+  mCoverageLayer->featureAtId( mFeatureIds[ featureI ], mCurrentFeature, /* fetchGeometry = */ true, /* fetchAttributes = */ true );
 
   if ( mFilenamePattern.size() > 0 )
   {
diff --git a/tests/src/core/testqgscomposerlabel.cpp b/tests/src/core/testqgscomposerlabel.cpp
index 56db37fa9ae3..0b82d2e31056 100644
--- a/tests/src/core/testqgscomposerlabel.cpp
+++ b/tests/src/core/testqgscomposerlabel.cpp
@@ -125,13 +125,11 @@ void TestQgsComposerLabel::evaluation()
 
 void TestQgsComposerLabel::feature_evaluation()
 {
-  QgsVectorDataProvider* provider = mVectorLayer->dataProvider();
-
-  QgsAttributeList allAttrs = provider->attributeIndexes();
-  provider->select( allAttrs );
+  QgsAttributeList allAttrs = mVectorLayer->pendingAllAttributesList();
+  mVectorLayer->select( allAttrs );
   QgsFeature feat;
 
-  provider->nextFeature( feat );
+  mVectorLayer->nextFeature( feat );
   {
     // evaluation with a feature
     mComposerLabel->setExpressionContext( &feat, mVectorLayer );
@@ -140,7 +138,7 @@ void TestQgsComposerLabel::feature_evaluation()
     QString expected = "Basse-Normandie_ok";
     QCOMPARE( evaluated, expected );
   }
-  provider->nextFeature( feat );
+  mVectorLayer->nextFeature( feat );
   {
     // evaluation with a feature
     mComposerLabel->setExpressionContext( &feat, mVectorLayer );