diff --git a/TileGenerator.cpp b/TileGenerator.cpp
index 24c036d..cd4b9c1 100644
--- a/TileGenerator.cpp
+++ b/TileGenerator.cpp
@@ -881,8 +881,8 @@ void TileGenerator::renderMap()
 
 			ZlibDecompressor decompressor(data, length);
 			decompressor.setSeekPos(dataOffset);
-			ZlibDecompressor::string mapData = decompressor.decompress();
-			ZlibDecompressor::string mapMetadata = decompressor.decompress();
+			ustring mapData = decompressor.decompress();
+			ustring mapMetadata = decompressor.decompress();
 			dataOffset = decompressor.seekPos();
 
 			// Skip unused data
@@ -973,7 +973,7 @@ void TileGenerator::renderMap()
 		cout << std::setw(40) << "" << "\r";
 }
 
-inline void TileGenerator::renderMapBlock(const unsigned_string &mapBlock, const BlockPos &pos, int version)
+inline void TileGenerator::renderMapBlock(const ustring &mapBlock, const BlockPos &pos, int version)
 {
 	int xBegin = worldBlockX2StoredX(pos.x);
 	int zBegin = worldBlockZ2StoredY(pos.z);
diff --git a/TileGenerator.h b/TileGenerator.h
index 3ef951c..bec0130 100644
--- a/TileGenerator.h
+++ b/TileGenerator.h
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 #include <set>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <string>
+#include <string>
+#include "types.h"
 #include "PixelAttributes.h"
 #include "Color.h"
 #include "db.h"
@@ -78,9 +80,8 @@ struct BlockPos {
 class TileGenerator
 {
 private:
-	typedef std::basic_string<unsigned char> unsigned_string;
 	typedef std::map<std::string, ColorEntry> ColorMap;
-	typedef std::pair<BlockPos, unsigned_string> Block;
+	typedef std::pair<BlockPos, ustring> Block;
 	typedef std::list<Block> BlockList;
 
 public:
@@ -138,7 +139,7 @@ private:
 	std::list<int> getZValueList() const;
 	Block getBlockOnPos(BlockPos pos);
 	void pushPixelRows(int zPosLimit);
-	void renderMapBlock(const unsigned_string &mapBlock, const BlockPos &pos, int version);
+	void renderMapBlock(const ustring &mapBlock, const BlockPos &pos, int version);
 	void renderScale();
 	void renderOrigin();
 	void renderPlayers(const std::string &inputPath);
diff --git a/ZlibDecompressor.cpp b/ZlibDecompressor.cpp
index b676f2a..69ee3f6 100644
--- a/ZlibDecompressor.cpp
+++ b/ZlibDecompressor.cpp
@@ -32,12 +32,12 @@ std::size_t ZlibDecompressor::seekPos() const
 	return m_seekPos;
 }
 
-ZlibDecompressor::string ZlibDecompressor::decompress()
+ustring ZlibDecompressor::decompress()
 {
 	const unsigned char *data = m_data + m_seekPos;
 	const std::size_t size = m_size - m_seekPos;
 
-	string buffer;
+	ustring buffer;
 	const size_t BUFSIZE = 128 * 1024;
 	uint8_t temp_buffer[BUFSIZE];
 
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ ZlibDecompressor::string ZlibDecompressor::decompress()
 		strm.avail_out = BUFSIZE;
 		strm.next_out = temp_buffer;
 		ret = inflate(&strm, Z_NO_FLUSH);
-		buffer += string(reinterpret_cast<unsigned char *>(temp_buffer), BUFSIZE - strm.avail_out);
+		buffer += ustring(reinterpret_cast<unsigned char *>(temp_buffer), BUFSIZE - strm.avail_out);
 	} while (ret == Z_OK);
 	if (ret != Z_STREAM_END) {
 		throw DecompressError();
diff --git a/ZlibDecompressor.h b/ZlibDecompressor.h
index 5b842bd..677328e 100644
--- a/ZlibDecompressor.h
+++ b/ZlibDecompressor.h
@@ -12,12 +12,12 @@
 
 #include <cstdlib>
 #include <string>
+#include "types.h"
 
 
 class ZlibDecompressor
 {
 public:
-	typedef std::basic_string<unsigned char> string;
 	class DecompressError {
 	};
 
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ public:
 	~ZlibDecompressor();
 	void setSeekPos(std::size_t seekPos);
 	std::size_t seekPos() const;
-	string decompress();
+	ustring decompress();
 
 private:
 	const unsigned char *m_data;
diff --git a/db-leveldb.cpp b/db-leveldb.cpp
index 73c4ea8..fb99e16 100644
--- a/db-leveldb.cpp
+++ b/db-leveldb.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "db-leveldb.h"
 #include <stdexcept>
 #include <sstream>
+#include "types.h"
 
 inline int64_t stoi64(const std::string &s) {
 	std::stringstream tmp(s);
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ DBBlock DBLevelDB::getBlockOnPos(int x, int y, int z)
 
 	status = m_db->Get(leveldb::ReadOptions(), i64tos(iPos), &datastr);
 	if(status.ok()) {
-		block = DBBlock( iPos, std::basic_string<unsigned char>( (const unsigned char*) datastr.c_str(), datastr.size() ) );
+		block = DBBlock( iPos, ustring( (const unsigned char*) datastr.c_str(), datastr.size() ) );
 		m_blocksReadCount++;
 		m_blocksUnCachedCount++;
 	}
diff --git a/db-sqlite3.cpp b/db-sqlite3.cpp
index f556afd..e00de74 100644
--- a/db-sqlite3.cpp
+++ b/db-sqlite3.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "db-sqlite3.h"
 #include <stdexcept>
 #include <unistd.h> // for usleep
+#include "types.h"
 
 
 DBSQLite3::DBSQLite3(const std::string &mapdir) :
@@ -138,7 +139,7 @@ DBBlock DBSQLite3::getBlockOnPosRaw(sqlite3_int64 psPos)
 			sqlite3_int64 blocknum = sqlite3_column_int64(m_blockOnPosStatement, 0);
 			const unsigned char *data = reinterpret_cast<const unsigned char *>(sqlite3_column_blob(m_blockOnPosStatement, 1));
 			int size = sqlite3_column_bytes(m_blockOnPosStatement, 1);
-			block = DBBlock(blocknum, std::basic_string<unsigned char>(data, size));
+			block = DBBlock(blocknum, ustring(data, size));
 			m_blocksUnCachedCount++;
 			//std::cerr << "Read block " << blocknum << " from database" << std::endl;
 			break;
@@ -182,7 +183,7 @@ void DBSQLite3::cacheBlocks(sqlite3_stmt *SQLstatement)
 			sqlite3_int64 blocknum = sqlite3_column_int64(SQLstatement, 0);
 			const unsigned char *data = reinterpret_cast<const unsigned char *>(sqlite3_column_blob(SQLstatement, 1));
 			int size = sqlite3_column_bytes(SQLstatement, 1);
-			m_blockCache[blocknum] = DBBlock(blocknum, std::basic_string<unsigned char>(data, size));
+			m_blockCache[blocknum] = DBBlock(blocknum, ustring(data, size));
 			m_blocksCachedCount++;
 			//std::cerr << "Cache block " << blocknum << " from database" << std::endl;
 		} else if (result == SQLITE_BUSY) { // Wait some time and try again
diff --git a/types.h b/types.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c6e3a10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/types.h
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+
+#ifndef TYPES_H
+#define TYPES_H
+
+#include <string>
+
+typedef std::basic_string<unsigned char> ustring;
+
+#endif // TYPES_H
+