diff --git a/src/core/qgsexpression.cpp b/src/core/qgsexpression.cpp
diff --git a/src/core/qgsexpression.h b/src/core/qgsexpression.h
@@ -23,12 +23,13 @@
 #include <QDomDocument>
 
 #include "qgsfield.h"
-#include "qgsvectorlayer.h"
 #include "qgsdistancearea.h"
-#include "qgsgeometry.h"
 
 class QgsFeature;
 class QgsGeometry;
+class QgsOgcUtils;
+class QgsVectorLayer;
+
 class QDomElement;
 
 /**
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ Possible QVariant value types:
 - int
 - double
 - string
+- geometry
 
 Similarly to SQL, this class supports three-value logic: true/false/unknown.
 Unknown value may be a result of operations with missing data (NULL). Please note
@@ -322,7 +324,6 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsExpression
         virtual QString dump() const = 0;
 
         virtual void toOgcFilter( QDomDocument &doc, QDomElement &element ) const { Q_UNUSED( doc ); Q_UNUSED( element ); }
-        static QgsExpression::Node* createFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element, QString &errorMessage );
 
         virtual QStringList referencedColumns() const = 0;
         virtual bool needsGeometry() const = 0;
@@ -391,7 +392,6 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsExpression
         virtual QString dump() const;
 
         virtual void toOgcFilter( QDomDocument &doc, QDomElement &element ) const;
-        static QgsExpression::Node* createFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element, QString &errorMessage );
 
         virtual QStringList referencedColumns() const { return mOperand->referencedColumns(); }
         virtual bool needsGeometry() const { return mOperand->needsGeometry(); }
@@ -417,7 +417,6 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsExpression
         virtual QString dump() const;
 
         virtual void toOgcFilter( QDomDocument &doc, QDomElement &element ) const;
-        static QgsExpression::Node* createFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element, QString &errorMessage );
 
         virtual QStringList referencedColumns() const { return mOpLeft->referencedColumns() + mOpRight->referencedColumns(); }
         virtual bool needsGeometry() const { return mOpLeft->needsGeometry() || mOpRight->needsGeometry(); }
@@ -475,7 +474,6 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsExpression
         virtual QString dump() const;
 
         virtual void toOgcFilter( QDomDocument &doc, QDomElement &element ) const;
-        static QgsExpression::Node* createFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element, QString &errorMessage );
 
         virtual QStringList referencedColumns() const { QStringList lst; if ( !mArgs ) return lst; foreach ( Node* n, mArgs->list() ) lst.append( n->referencedColumns() ); return lst; }
         virtual bool needsGeometry() const { bool needs = Functions()[mFnIndex]->usesgeometry(); if ( mArgs ) { foreach ( Node* n, mArgs->list() ) needs |= n->needsGeometry(); } return needs; }
@@ -499,7 +497,6 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsExpression
         virtual QString dump() const;
 
         virtual void toOgcFilter( QDomDocument &doc, QDomElement &element ) const;
-        static QgsExpression::Node* createFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element, QString &errorMessage );
 
         virtual QStringList referencedColumns() const { return QStringList(); }
         virtual bool needsGeometry() const { return false; }
@@ -521,7 +518,6 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsExpression
         virtual QString dump() const;
 
         virtual void toOgcFilter( QDomDocument &doc, QDomElement &element ) const;
-        static QgsExpression::Node* createFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element, QString &errorMessage );
 
         virtual QStringList referencedColumns() const { return QStringList( mName ); }
         virtual bool needsGeometry() const { return false; }
@@ -587,7 +583,6 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsExpression
 
     // convert from/to OGC Filter
     void toOgcFilter( QDomDocument &doc, QDomElement &element ) const;
-    static QgsExpression* createFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element );
 
   protected:
     // internally used to create an empty expression
@@ -607,6 +602,7 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsExpression
     static QMap<QString, QVariant> gmSpecialColumns;
     QgsDistanceArea mCalc;
 
+    friend class QgsOgcUtils;
 };
 
 Q_DECLARE_METATYPE( QgsExpression::Interval );

diff --git a/src/core/qgsogcutils.cpp b/src/core/qgsogcutils.cpp
diff --git a/src/core/qgsogcutils.h b/src/core/qgsogcutils.h
@@ -9,10 +9,13 @@ class QString;
 #include <list>
 #include <QVector>
 
+class QgsExpression;
 class QgsGeometry;
 class QgsPoint;
 class QgsRectangle;
 
+#include "qgsexpression.h"
+
 /**
  * @brief The QgsOgcUtils class provides various utility functions for conversion between
  *   OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards and QGIS internal representations.
@@ -24,8 +27,7 @@ class QgsRectangle;
  */
 class CORE_EXPORT QgsOgcUtils
 {
-public:
-
+  public:
 
   /** static method that creates geometry from GML
    @param XML representation of the geometry. GML elements are expected to be
@@ -63,6 +65,11 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsOgcUtils
    */
   static QDomElement rectangleToGMLEnvelope( QgsRectangle* env, QDomDocument& doc );
 
+
+  /** Parse XML with OGC filter into QGIS expression */
+  static QgsExpression* expressionFromOgcFilter( const QDomElement& element );
+
+
 private:
   /** static method that creates geometry from GML Point */
   static QgsGeometry* geometryFromGMLPoint( const QDomElement& geometryElement );
@@ -99,6 +106,25 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsOgcUtils
       @param the GML document
       @return QDomElement */
   static QDomElement createGMLPositions( const QVector<QgsPoint> points, QDomDocument& doc );
+
+    //! handle a generic sub-expression
+    static QgsExpression::Node* nodeFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element, QString &errorMessage );
+    //! handle a generic binary operator
+    static QgsExpression::NodeBinaryOperator* nodeBinaryOperatorFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element, QString &errorMessage );
+    //! handles various spatial operation tags (<Intersects>, <Touches> etc)
+    static QgsExpression::NodeFunction* nodeSpatialOperatorFromOgcFilter( QDomElement& element, QString& errorMessage );
+    //! handle <Not> tag
+    static QgsExpression::NodeUnaryOperator* nodeNotFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element, QString &errorMessage );
+    //! handles <Function> tag
+    static QgsExpression::NodeFunction* nodeFunctionFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element, QString &errorMessage );
+    //! handles <Literal> tag
+    static QgsExpression::Node* nodeLiteralFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element, QString &errorMessage );
+    //! handles <PropertyName> tag
+    static QgsExpression::NodeColumnRef* nodeColumnRefFromOgcFilter( QDomElement &element, QString &errorMessage );
+    //! handles <PropertyIsBetween> tag
+    static QgsExpression::Node* nodeIsBetweenFromOgcFilter( QDomElement& element, QString& errorMessage );
+    //! handles <PropertyIsNull> tag
+    static QgsExpression::NodeBinaryOperator* nodePropertyIsNullFromOgcFilter( QDomElement& element, QString& errorMessage );
 };
 
 #endif // QGSOGCUTILS_H
diff --git a/src/core/symbology-ng/qgsrulebasedrendererv2.cpp b/src/core/symbology-ng/qgsrulebasedrendererv2.cpp
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "qgsrendercontext.h"
 #include "qgsvectorlayer.h"
 #include "qgslogger.h"
+#include "qgsogcutils.h"
 
 #include <QSet>
 
@@ -538,7 +539,7 @@ QgsRuleBasedRendererV2::Rule* QgsRuleBasedRendererV2::Rule::createFromSld( QDomE
     }
     else if ( childElem.localName() == "Filter" )
     {
-      QgsExpression *filter = QgsExpression::createFromOgcFilter( childElem );
+      QgsExpression *filter = QgsOgcUtils::expressionFromOgcFilter( childElem );
       if ( filter )
       {
         if ( filter->hasParserError() )

diff --git a/src/core/symbology-ng/qgssymbollayerv2utils.cpp b/src/core/symbology-ng/qgssymbollayerv2utils.cpp
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 #include "qgsexpression.h"
 #include "qgsapplication.h"
 #include "qgsproject.h"
-
+#include "qgsogcutils.h"
 
 #include "qgsapplication.h"
 #include "qgsproject.h"
@@ -2239,7 +2239,7 @@ bool QgsSymbolLayerV2Utils::functionFromSldElement( QDomElement &element, QStrin
 {
   QgsDebugMsg( "Entered." );
 
-  QgsExpression *expr = QgsExpression::createFromOgcFilter( element );
+  QgsExpression *expr = QgsOgcUtils::expressionFromOgcFilter( element );
   if ( !expr )
     return false;
 

diff --git a/src/mapserver/qgswfsserver.cpp b/src/mapserver/qgswfsserver.cpp
@@ -537,7 +537,7 @@ int QgsWFSServer::getFeature( QgsRequestHandler& request, const QString& format
           }
           else
           {
-            QgsExpression *mFilter = QgsExpression::createFromOgcFilter( filterElem );
+            QgsExpression *mFilter = QgsOgcUtils::expressionFromOgcFilter( filterElem );
             if ( mFilter->hasParserError() )
             {
               throw QgsMapServiceException( "RequestNotWellFormed", mFilter->parserErrorString() );
@@ -920,7 +920,7 @@ int QgsWFSServer::getFeature( QgsRequestHandler& request, const QString& format
         }
         else
         {
-          QgsExpression *mFilter = QgsExpression::createFromOgcFilter( filterElem );
+          QgsExpression *mFilter = QgsOgcUtils::expressionFromOgcFilter( filterElem );
           if ( mFilter->hasParserError() )
           {
             throw QgsMapServiceException( "RequestNotWellFormed", mFilter->parserErrorString() );
@@ -1573,7 +1573,7 @@ QgsFeatureIds QgsWFSServer::getFeatureIdsFromFilter( QDomElement filterElem, Qgs
   }
   else
   {
-    QgsExpression *mFilter = QgsExpression::createFromOgcFilter( filterElem );
+    QgsExpression *mFilter = QgsOgcUtils::expressionFromOgcFilter( filterElem );
     if ( mFilter->hasParserError() )
     {
       throw QgsMapServiceException( "RequestNotWellFormed", mFilter->parserErrorString() );

diff --git a/tests/src/core/testqgsexpression.cpp b/tests/src/core/testqgsexpression.cpp
@@ -758,113 +758,6 @@ class TestQgsExpression: public QObject
       QgsExpression::unsetSpecialColumn( "$var1" );
     }
 
-
-    void test_from_ogc_filter_data()
-    {
-      QTest::addColumn<QString>( "xmlText" );
-      QTest::addColumn<QString>( "dumpText" );
-
-      QTest::newRow( "=" ) << QString(
-        "<Filter><PropertyIsEqualTo>"
-          "<PropertyName>NAME</PropertyName>"
-          "<Literal>New York</Literal>"
-        "</PropertyIsEqualTo></Filter>" )
-        << QString( "NAME = 'New York'" );
-
-      QTest::newRow( ">" ) << QString(
-        "<Filter><PropertyIsGreaterThan>"
-          "<PropertyName>COUNT</PropertyName>"
-          "<Literal>3</Literal>"
-        "</PropertyIsGreaterThan></Filter>" )
-        << QString( "COUNT > 3" );
-
-      QTest::newRow( "AND" ) << QString(
-        "<ogc:Filter>"
-          "<ogc:And>"
-            "<ogc:PropertyIsGreaterThanOrEqualTo>"
-              "<ogc:PropertyName>pop</ogc:PropertyName>"
-              "<ogc:Literal>50000</ogc:Literal>"
-            "</ogc:PropertyIsGreaterThanOrEqualTo>"
-            "<ogc:PropertyIsLessThan>"
-              "<ogc:PropertyName>pop</ogc:PropertyName>"
-              "<ogc:Literal>100000</ogc:Literal>"
-            "</ogc:PropertyIsLessThan>"
-          "</ogc:And>"
-        "</ogc:Filter>" )
-        << QString( "pop >= 50000 AND pop < 100000" );
-
-      // TODO: should work also without <Literal> tags in Lower/Upper-Boundary tags?
-      QTest::newRow( "between" ) << QString(
-        "<Filter>"
-          "<PropertyIsBetween><PropertyName>POPULATION</PropertyName>"
-          "<LowerBoundary><Literal>100</Literal></LowerBoundary>"
-          "<UpperBoundary><Literal>200</Literal></UpperBoundary></PropertyIsBetween>"
-        "</Filter>" )
-        << QString( "POPULATION >= 100 AND POPULATION <= 200" );
-
-      // TODO: needs to handle different wildcards, single chars, escape chars
-      QTest::newRow( "like" ) << QString(
-        "<Filter>"
-          "<PropertyIsLike wildcard='*' singleChar='.' escape='!'>"
-          "<PropertyName>NAME</PropertyName><Literal>*QGIS*</Literal></PropertyIsLike>"
-        "</Filter>" )
-        << QString( "NAME LIKE '*QGIS*'" );
-
-      QTest::newRow( "is null" ) << QString(
-        "<Filter>"
-          "<ogc:PropertyIsNull>"
-            "<ogc:PropertyName>FIRST_NAME</ogc:PropertyName>"
-          "</ogc:PropertyIsNull>"
-        "</Filter>" )
-        << QString( "FIRST_NAME IS NULL" );
-
-      QTest::newRow( "bbox" ) << QString(
-      "<Filter>"
-        "<BBOX><PropertyName>Name>NAME</PropertyName><gml:Box srsName='foo'>"
-        "<gml:coordinates>135.2239,34.4879 135.8578,34.8471</gml:coordinates></gml:Box></BBOX>"
-      "</Filter>" )
-      << QString( "bbox($geometry, geomFromGML2('<Box srsName=\"foo\"><coordinates>135.2239,34.4879 135.8578,34.8471</coordinates></Box>'))" );
-
-      QTest::newRow( "Intersects" ) << QString(
-        "<Filter>"
-        "<Intersects>"
-           "<PropertyName>GEOMETRY</PropertyName>"
-           "<gml:Point>"
-              "<gml:coordinates>123,456</gml:coordinates>"
-           "</gml:Point>"
-        "</Intersects>"
-        "</Filter>" )
-        << QString( "intersects($geometry, geomFromGML2('<Point><coordinates>123,456</coordinates></Point>'))" );
-    }
-
-    void test_from_ogc_filter()
-    {
-      QFETCH( QString, xmlText );
-      QFETCH( QString, dumpText );
-
-      QDomDocument doc;
-      QVERIFY(doc.setContent(xmlText, true));
-      QDomElement rootElem = doc.documentElement();
-
-      QgsExpression* expr = QgsExpression::createFromOgcFilter( rootElem );
-      QVERIFY( expr );
-
-      qDebug("OGC XML  : %s", xmlText.toAscii().data() );
-      qDebug("EXPR-DUMP: %s", expr->dump().toAscii().data() );
-
-      if ( expr->hasParserError() )
-        qDebug( "ERROR: %s ", expr->parserErrorString().toAscii().data() );
-      QVERIFY( !expr->hasParserError() );
-
-      QCOMPARE( dumpText, expr->dump() );
-
-      delete expr;
-    }
-
-    void test_to_ogc_filter()
-    {
-      // TODO
-    }
 };
 
 QTEST_MAIN( TestQgsExpression )

diff --git a/tests/src/core/testqgsogcutils.cpp b/tests/src/core/testqgsogcutils.cpp
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ class TestQgsOgcUtils : public QObject
 
     void testGeometryFromGML();
     void testGeometryToGML();
+
+    void testExpressionFromOgcFilter();
+    void testExpressionFromOgcFilter_data();
 };
 
 
@@ -107,5 +110,108 @@ void TestQgsOgcUtils::testGeometryToGML()
 }
 
 
+void TestQgsOgcUtils::testExpressionFromOgcFilter_data()
+{
+  QTest::addColumn<QString>( "xmlText" );
+  QTest::addColumn<QString>( "dumpText" );
+
+  QTest::newRow( "=" ) << QString(
+    "<Filter><PropertyIsEqualTo>"
+    "<PropertyName>NAME</PropertyName>"
+    "<Literal>New York</Literal>"
+    "</PropertyIsEqualTo></Filter>" )
+  << QString( "NAME = 'New York'" );
+
+  QTest::newRow( ">" ) << QString(
+    "<Filter><PropertyIsGreaterThan>"
+    "<PropertyName>COUNT</PropertyName>"
+    "<Literal>3</Literal>"
+    "</PropertyIsGreaterThan></Filter>" )
+  << QString( "COUNT > 3" );
+
+  QTest::newRow( "AND" ) << QString(
+    "<ogc:Filter>"
+    "<ogc:And>"
+    "<ogc:PropertyIsGreaterThanOrEqualTo>"
+    "<ogc:PropertyName>pop</ogc:PropertyName>"
+    "<ogc:Literal>50000</ogc:Literal>"
+    "</ogc:PropertyIsGreaterThanOrEqualTo>"
+    "<ogc:PropertyIsLessThan>"
+    "<ogc:PropertyName>pop</ogc:PropertyName>"
+    "<ogc:Literal>100000</ogc:Literal>"
+    "</ogc:PropertyIsLessThan>"
+    "</ogc:And>"
+    "</ogc:Filter>" )
+  << QString( "pop >= 50000 AND pop < 100000" );
+
+  // TODO: should work also without <Literal> tags in Lower/Upper-Boundary tags?
+  QTest::newRow( "between" ) << QString(
+    "<Filter>"
+    "<PropertyIsBetween><PropertyName>POPULATION</PropertyName>"
+    "<LowerBoundary><Literal>100</Literal></LowerBoundary>"
+    "<UpperBoundary><Literal>200</Literal></UpperBoundary></PropertyIsBetween>"
+    "</Filter>" )
+  << QString( "POPULATION >= 100 AND POPULATION <= 200" );
+
+  // TODO: needs to handle different wildcards, single chars, escape chars
+  QTest::newRow( "like" ) << QString(
+    "<Filter>"
+    "<PropertyIsLike wildcard='*' singleChar='.' escape='!'>"
+    "<PropertyName>NAME</PropertyName><Literal>*QGIS*</Literal></PropertyIsLike>"
+    "</Filter>" )
+  << QString( "NAME LIKE '*QGIS*'" );
+
+  QTest::newRow( "is null" ) << QString(
+    "<Filter>"
+    "<ogc:PropertyIsNull>"
+    "<ogc:PropertyName>FIRST_NAME</ogc:PropertyName>"
+    "</ogc:PropertyIsNull>"
+    "</Filter>" )
+  << QString( "FIRST_NAME IS NULL" );
+
+  QTest::newRow( "bbox" ) << QString(
+    "<Filter>"
+    "<BBOX><PropertyName>Name>NAME</PropertyName><gml:Box srsName='foo'>"
+    "<gml:coordinates>135.2239,34.4879 135.8578,34.8471</gml:coordinates></gml:Box></BBOX>"
+    "</Filter>" )
+  << QString( "bbox($geometry, geomFromGML2('<Box srsName=\"foo\"><coordinates>135.2239,34.4879 135.8578,34.8471</coordinates></Box>'))" );
+
+  QTest::newRow( "Intersects" ) << QString(
+    "<Filter>"
+    "<Intersects>"
+    "<PropertyName>GEOMETRY</PropertyName>"
+    "<gml:Point>"
+    "<gml:coordinates>123,456</gml:coordinates>"
+    "</gml:Point>"
+    "</Intersects>"
+    "</Filter>" )
+  << QString( "intersects($geometry, geomFromGML2('<Point><coordinates>123,456</coordinates></Point>'))" );
+}
+
+void TestQgsOgcUtils::testExpressionFromOgcFilter()
+{
+  QFETCH( QString, xmlText );
+  QFETCH( QString, dumpText );
+
+  QDomDocument doc;
+  QVERIFY( doc.setContent( xmlText, true ) );
+  QDomElement rootElem = doc.documentElement();
+
+  QgsExpression* expr = QgsOgcUtils::expressionFromOgcFilter( rootElem );
+  QVERIFY( expr );
+
+  qDebug( "OGC XML  : %s", xmlText.toAscii().data() );
+  qDebug( "EXPR-DUMP: %s", expr->dump().toAscii().data() );
+
+  if ( expr->hasParserError() )
+    qDebug( "ERROR: %s ", expr->parserErrorString().toAscii().data() );
+  QVERIFY( !expr->hasParserError() );
+
+  QCOMPARE( dumpText, expr->dump() );
+
+  delete expr;
+}
+
+
 QTEST_MAIN( TestQgsOgcUtils )
 #include "moc_testqgsogcutils.cxx"