diff --git a/src/Plots.jl b/src/Plots.jl
index fc3d87d0..b123958d 100644
--- a/src/Plots.jl
+++ b/src/Plots.jl
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ export
     boxplot!,
     violin,
     violin!,
+    quiver,
+    quiver!,
 
     title!,
     xlabel!,
@@ -196,6 +198,8 @@ boxplot(args...; kw...)    = plot(args...; kw...,  linetype = :box)
 boxplot!(args...; kw...)   = plot!(args...; kw..., linetype = :box)
 violin(args...; kw...)     = plot(args...; kw...,  linetype = :violin)
 violin!(args...; kw...)    = plot!(args...; kw..., linetype = :violin)
+quiver(args...; kw...)     = plot(args...; kw...,  linetype = :quiver)
+quiver!(args...; kw...)    = plot!(args...; kw..., linetype = :quiver)
 
 
 title!(s::AbstractString; kw...)                 = plot!(; title = s, kw...)
diff --git a/src/args.jl b/src/args.jl
index 98bba5b7..e69dcf97 100644
--- a/src/args.jl
+++ b/src/args.jl
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ const _3dTypes = [:path3d, :scatter3d, :surface, :wireframe]
 const _allTypes = vcat([
                         :none, :line, :path, :steppre, :steppost, :sticks, :scatter,
                         :heatmap, :hexbin, :hist, :hist2d, :hist3d, :density, :bar, :hline, :vline, :ohlc,
-                        :contour, :pie, :shape, :box, :violin
+                        :contour, :pie, :shape, :box, :violin, :quiver
                        ], _3dTypes)
 @compat const _typeAliases = KW(
     :n             => :none,
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ const _allTypes = vcat([
     :poly          => :shape,
     :polygon       => :shape,
     :boxplot       => :box,
+    :velocity      => :quiver,
+    :gradient      => :quiver,
   )
 
 like_histogram(linetype::Symbol) = linetype in (:hist, :density)
@@ -148,6 +150,7 @@ _seriesDefaults[:orientation]     = :vertical
 _seriesDefaults[:xerror]          = nothing
 _seriesDefaults[:yerror]          = nothing
 _seriesDefaults[:ribbon]          = nothing
+_seriesDefaults[:quiver]          = nothing
 
 
 const _plotDefaults = KW()
@@ -333,6 +336,9 @@ end
     :xerrorbar          => :xerror,
     :yerr               => :yerror,
     :yerrorbar          => :yerror,
+    :velocity           => :quiver,
+    :quiver2d           => :quiver,
+    :gradient           => :quiver,
   )
 
 # add all pluralized forms to the _keyAliases dict
diff --git a/src/backends/gadfly.jl b/src/backends/gadfly.jl
index c6724e89..01490e14 100644
--- a/src/backends/gadfly.jl
+++ b/src/backends/gadfly.jl
@@ -132,10 +132,16 @@ end
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+get_shape(sym::Symbol) = _shapes[sym]
+get_shape(shape::Shape) = shape
+
 # extract the underlying ShapeGeometry object(s)
-getMarkerGeom(shape::Shape) = gadflyshape(shape)
-getMarkerGeom(shape::Symbol) = gadflyshape(_shapes[shape])
-getMarkerGeom(shapes::AVec) = map(getMarkerGeom, shapes)
+getMarkerGeom(shapes::AVec) = gadflyshape(map(get_shape, shapes))
+getMarkerGeom(other) = gadflyshape(get_shape(other))
+
+# getMarkerGeom(shape::Shape) = gadflyshape(shape)
+# getMarkerGeom(shape::Symbol) = gadflyshape(_shapes[shape])
+# getMarkerGeom(shapes::AVec) = gadflyshape(map(gadflyshape, shapes)) # map(getMarkerGeom, shapes)
 function getMarkerGeom(d::KW)
     if d[:linetype] == :shape
         Gadfly.Geom.polygon(fill = true, preserve_order = true)
diff --git a/src/backends/gadfly_shapes.jl b/src/backends/gadfly_shapes.jl
index 25672598..51a3c5ba 100644
--- a/src/backends/gadfly_shapes.jl
+++ b/src/backends/gadfly_shapes.jl
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 
 
 # Geometry which displays arbitrary shapes at given (x, y) positions.
+# note: vertices is a list of shapes
 immutable ShapeGeometry <: Gadfly.GeometryElement
-    vertices::AbstractVector{@compat(Tuple{Float64,Float64})}
+    vertices::AbstractVector #{Tuple{Float64,Float64}}
     tag::Symbol
 
     function ShapeGeometry(shape; tag::Symbol=Gadfly.Geom.empty_tag)
@@ -66,24 +67,27 @@ function Gadfly.render(geom::ShapeGeometry, theme::Gadfly.Theme, aes::Gadfly.Aes
 end
 
 function gadflyshape(sv::Shape)
-  ShapeGeometry(sv.vertices)
+  ShapeGeometry(Any[sv.vertices])
+end
+
+function gadflyshape(sv::AVec{Shape})
+    ShapeGeometry(Any[s.vertices for s in sv])
 end
 
 
 # create a Compose context given a ShapeGeometry and the xs/ys/sizes
 function make_polygon(geom::ShapeGeometry, xs::AbstractArray, ys::AbstractArray, rs::AbstractArray)
   n = max(length(xs), length(ys), length(rs))
-  T = @compat(Tuple{Compose.Measure, Compose.Measure})
+  T = Tuple{Compose.Measure, Compose.Measure}
   polys = Array(Vector{T}, n)
   for i in 1:n
     x = Compose.x_measure(xs[mod1(i, length(xs))])
     y = Compose.y_measure(ys[mod1(i, length(ys))])
     r = rs[mod1(i, length(rs))]
-    polys[i] = T[(x + r * sx, y + r * sy) for (sx,sy) in geom.vertices]
+    polys[i] = T[(x + r * sx, y + r * sy) for (sx,sy) in get_mod(geom.vertices, i)]
   end
   Gadfly.polygon(polys, geom.tag)
 end
 
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
diff --git a/src/backends/supported.jl b/src/backends/supported.jl
index ea8023db..8750a569 100644
--- a/src/backends/supported.jl
+++ b/src/backends/supported.jl
@@ -80,11 +80,12 @@ supportedArgs(::GadflyBackend) = [
     :xerror,
     :yerror,
     :ribbon,
+    :quiver,
     :orientation,
   ]
 supportedAxes(::GadflyBackend) = [:auto, :left]
 supportedTypes(::GadflyBackend) = [:none, :line, :path, :steppre, :steppost, :sticks,
-                                   :scatter, :hist2d, :hexbin, :hist, :bar, :box, :violin,
+                                   :scatter, :hist2d, :hexbin, :hist, :bar, :box, :violin, :quiver,
                                    :hline, :vline, :contour, :shape]
 supportedStyles(::GadflyBackend) = [:auto, :solid, :dash, :dot, :dashdot, :dashdotdot]
 supportedMarkers(::GadflyBackend) = vcat(_allMarkers, Shape)
@@ -171,11 +172,12 @@ supportedArgs(::PyPlotBackend) = [
     :xerror,
     :yerror,
     :ribbon,
+    :quiver,
     :orientation,
   ]
 supportedAxes(::PyPlotBackend) = _allAxes
 supportedTypes(::PyPlotBackend) = [:none, :line, :path, :steppre, :steppost, #:sticks,
-                                   :scatter, :hist2d, :hexbin, :hist, :density, :bar, :box, :violin,
+                                   :scatter, :hist2d, :hexbin, :hist, :density, :bar, :box, :violin, :quiver,
                                    :hline, :vline, :contour, :path3d, :scatter3d, :surface, :wireframe, :heatmap]
 supportedStyles(::PyPlotBackend) = [:auto, :solid, :dash, :dot, :dashdot]
 # supportedMarkers(::PyPlotBackend) = [:none, :auto, :rect, :ellipse, :diamond, :utriangle, :dtriangle, :cross, :xcross, :star5, :hexagon]
@@ -249,6 +251,7 @@ supportedArgs(::GRBackend) = [
     :xerror,
     :yerror,
     :ribbon,
+    :quiver,
     :orientation,
   ]
 supportedAxes(::GRBackend) = _allAxes
@@ -575,6 +578,7 @@ supportedArgs(::PlotlyBackend) = [
     :xerror,
     :yerror,
     :ribbon,
+    :quiver,
     :orientation,
   ]
 supportedAxes(::PlotlyBackend) = [:auto, :left]
@@ -649,6 +653,7 @@ supportedArgs(::PlotlyJSBackend) = [
     :xerror,
     :yerror,
     :ribbon,
+    :quiver,
     :orientation,
   ]
 supportedAxes(::PlotlyJSBackend) = [:auto, :left]
diff --git a/src/components.jl b/src/components.jl
index da482b39..ea560eaa 100644
--- a/src/components.jl
+++ b/src/components.jl
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ export
 typealias P2 FixedSizeArrays.Vec{2,Float64}
 typealias P3 FixedSizeArrays.Vec{3,Float64}
 
+nanpush!(a::AbstractVector{P2}, b) = (push!(a, P2(NaN,NaN)); push!(a, b))
+nanappend!(a::AbstractVector{P2}, b) = (push!(a, P2(NaN,NaN)); append!(a, b))
+nanpush!(a::AbstractVector{P3}, b) = (push!(a, P3(NaN,NaN,NaN)); push!(a, b))
+nanappend!(a::AbstractVector{P3}, b) = (push!(a, P3(NaN,NaN,NaN)); append!(a, b))
+compute_angle(v::P2) = (angle = atan2(v[2], v[1]); angle < 0 ? 2π - angle : angle)
+
+# -------------------------------------------------------------
 
 immutable Shape
   vertices::AVec
@@ -98,6 +105,14 @@ function makecross(; offset = -0.5, radius = 1.0)
 end
 
 
+from_polar(angle, dist) = P2(dist*cos(angle), dist*sin(angle))
+
+function makearrowhead(angle; h = 2.0, w = 0.4)
+    tip = from_polar(angle, h)
+    Shape(P2[(0,0), from_polar(angle - 0.5π, w) - tip,
+        from_polar(angle + 0.5π, w) - tip, (0,0)])
+end
+
 const _shapes = KW(
     :ellipse    => makeshape(20),
     :rect       => makeshape(4, offset=-0.25),
diff --git a/src/recipes.jl b/src/recipes.jl
index 9e37fc13..954db30b 100644
--- a/src/recipes.jl
+++ b/src/recipes.jl
@@ -147,12 +147,18 @@ function error_style!(d::KW)
     d[:label] = ""
 end
 
+# if we're passed a tuple of vectors, convert to a vector of tuples
+function error_zipit(ebar)
+    if istuple(ebar)
+        collect(zip(ebar...))
+    else
+        ebar
+    end
+end
+
 function error_coords(xorig, yorig, ebar)
     # init empty x/y, and zip errors if passed Tuple{Vector,Vector}
     x, y = zeros(0), zeros(0)
-    if istuple(ebar)
-        ebar = collect(zip(ebar...))
-    end
 
     # for each point, create a line segment from the bottom to the top of the errorbar
     for i = 1:max(length(xorig), length(yorig))
@@ -177,19 +183,131 @@ end
 function apply_series_recipe(d::KW, ::Type{Val{:yerror}})
     error_style!(d)
     d[:markershape] = :hline
-    d[:x], d[:y] = error_coords(d[:x], d[:y], d[:yerror])
+    d[:x], d[:y] = error_coords(d[:x], d[:y], error_zipit(d[:yerror]))
     KW[d]
 end
 
 function apply_series_recipe(d::KW, ::Type{Val{:xerror}})
     error_style!(d)
     d[:markershape] = :vline
-    d[:y], d[:x] = error_coords(d[:y], d[:x], d[:xerror])
+    d[:y], d[:x] = error_coords(d[:y], d[:x], error_zipit(d[:xerror]))
     KW[d]
 end
 
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# quiver
+
+# function apply_series_recipe(d::KW, ::Type{Val{:quiver}})
+#     d[:label] = ""
+#     d[:linetype] = :scatter
+#
+#     # create a second series to draw the arrow shaft
+#     dpath = copy(d)
+#     error_style!(dpath)
+#     dpath[:markershape] = :none
+#
+#     velocity = error_zipit(d[:quiver])
+#     xorig, yorig = d[:x], d[:y]
+#
+#     # for each point, we create an arrow of velocity vi, translated to the x/y coordinates
+#     # x, y = zeros(0), zeros(0)
+#     paths = P2[]
+#     arrows = P2[]
+#     arrowshapes = Shape[]
+#     for i = 1:max(length(xorig), length(yorig))
+#
+#         # get the starting position
+#         xi = get_mod(xorig, i)
+#         yi = get_mod(yorig, i)
+#         p = P2(xi, yi)
+#
+#         # get the velocity
+#         vi = get_mod(velocity, i)
+#         vx, vy = if istuple(vi)
+#             first(vi), last(vi)
+#         elseif isscalar(vi)
+#             vi, vi
+#         else
+#             error("unexpected vi type $(typeof(vi)) for quiver: $vi")
+#         end
+#         v = P2(vx, vy)
+#
+#         nanappend!(paths, [p, p+v])
+#         push!(arrows, p+v)
+#         push!(arrowshapes, makearrowhead(compute_angle(v)))
+#
+#         # # dist = sqrt(vx^2 + vy^2)
+#         # dist = norm(v)
+#         # arrow_h = 0.1dist          # height of arrowhead
+#         # arrow_w = 0.5arrow_h       # halfwidth of arrowhead
+#         # U1 = v ./ dist             # vector of arrowhead height
+#         # U2 = P2(-U1[2], U1[1])     # vector of arrowhead halfwidth
+#         # U1 *= arrow_h
+#         # U2 *= arrow_w
+#         #
+#         # append!(pts, P2(xi, yi) .+ P2[(0,0), v-U1, v-U1+U2, v, v-U1-U2, v-U1, (NaN,NaN)])
+#         # # a1 = v - arrow_h * U1 + arrow_w * U2
+#         # # a2 = v - arrow_h * U1 - arrow_w * U2
+#         # # nanappend!(x, xi + [0.0, vx, a1[1], a2[1], vx])
+#         # # nanappend!(y, yi + [0.0, vy, a1[2], a2[2], vy])
+#     end
+#
+#     # d[:x], d[:y] = Plots.unzip(pts)
+#     dpath[:x], dpath[:y] = Plots.unzip(paths)
+#     d[:x], d[:y] = Plots.unzip(arrows)
+#     d[:markershape] = arrowshapes
+#
+#     KW[dpath, d]
+# end
+
+function apply_series_recipe(d::KW, ::Type{Val{:quiver}})
+    d[:label] = ""
+    d[:linetype] = :shape
+
+    velocity = error_zipit(d[:quiver])
+    xorig, yorig = d[:x], d[:y]
+
+    # for each point, we create an arrow of velocity vi, translated to the x/y coordinates
+    pts = P2[]
+    for i = 1:max(length(xorig), length(yorig))
+
+        # get the starting position
+        xi = get_mod(xorig, i)
+        yi = get_mod(yorig, i)
+        p = P2(xi, yi)
+
+        # get the velocity
+        vi = get_mod(velocity, i)
+        vx, vy = if istuple(vi)
+            first(vi), last(vi)
+        elseif isscalar(vi)
+            vi, vi
+        elseif isa(vi,Function)
+            vi(xi, yi)
+        else
+            error("unexpected vi type $(typeof(vi)) for quiver: $vi")
+        end
+        v = P2(vx, vy)
+
+        dist = norm(v)
+        arrow_h = 0.1dist          # height of arrowhead
+        arrow_w = 0.5arrow_h       # halfwidth of arrowhead
+        U1 = v ./ dist             # vector of arrowhead height
+        U2 = P2(-U1[2], U1[1])     # vector of arrowhead halfwidth
+        U1 *= arrow_h
+        U2 *= arrow_w
+
+        ppv = p+v
+        nanappend!(pts, P2[p, ppv-U1, ppv-U1+U2, ppv, ppv-U1-U2, ppv-U1])
+    end
+
+    d[:x], d[:y] = Plots.unzip(pts)
+    KW[d]
+end
+
+
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/series_args.jl b/src/series_args.jl
index 1449648c..8a8b4098 100644
--- a/src/series_args.jl
+++ b/src/series_args.jl
@@ -161,11 +161,20 @@ function build_series_args(plt::AbstractPlot, kw::KW) #, idxfilter)
 
         # handle ribbons
         if get(d, :ribbon, nothing) != nothing
-            # append!(ret, apply_series_recipe(copy(d), Val{:ribbon}))
             rib = d[:ribbon]
             d[:fillrange] = (d[:y] - rib, d[:y] + rib)
         end
 
+        # handle quiver plots
+        if lt == :quiver
+            d[:linetype] = lt = :path
+            d[:linewidth] = 0
+        end
+        if get(d, :quiver, nothing) != nothing
+            append!(ret, apply_series_recipe(copy(d), Val{:quiver}))
+        end
+
+
 
         # now that we've processed a given series... optionally split into
         # multiple dicts through a recipe (for example, a box plot is split into component
diff --git a/src/utils.jl b/src/utils.jl
index a37d71ce..2682c6f8 100644
--- a/src/utils.jl
+++ b/src/utils.jl
@@ -240,6 +240,7 @@ Base.merge(a::AbstractVector, b::AbstractVector) = sort(unique(vcat(a,b)))
 nanpush!(a::AbstractVector, b) = (push!(a, NaN); push!(a, b))
 nanappend!(a::AbstractVector, b) = (push!(a, NaN); append!(a, b))
 
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------
 
 wraptuple(x::@compat(Tuple)) = x