diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3d1408c41fd..c3a89115d97 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ IF (WITH_POSTGRESQL)
   SET (POSTGRESQL_PREFIX "" CACHE PATH "Path to POSTGRESQL base directory")
 ENDIF (WITH_POSTGRESQL)
 
+SET (WITH_INTERNAL_QWTPOLAR TRUE CACHE BOOL "Use internal built of QWTPolar")
+
 SET (WITH_SPATIALITE TRUE CACHE BOOL "Determines whether SPATIALITE support should be built")
 
 IF (WITH_SPATIALITE)
@@ -141,6 +143,9 @@ FIND_PACKAGE(GSL)      # Georeferencer
 FIND_PACKAGE(GEOS)
 FIND_PACKAGE(GDAL)
 FIND_PACKAGE(QWT REQUIRED)
+IF (NOT WITH_INTERNAL_QWTPOLAR)
+  FIND_PACKAGE(QWTPOLAR REQUIRED)
+ENDIF(NOT WITH_INTERNAL_QWTPOLAR)
 
 IF (NOT WITH_INTERNAL_SPATIALITE)
   FIND_PACKAGE(Sqlite3)
diff --git a/cmake/FindQwtPolar.cmake b/cmake/FindQwtPolar.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ea32dc9ff0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/FindQwtPolar.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# Find QwtPolar
+# ~~~~~~~~
+# Copyright (c) 2011, Jürgen E. Fischer <jef at norbit.de>
+#
+# Redistribution and use is allowed according to the terms of the BSD license.
+# For details see the accompanying COPYING-CMAKE-SCRIPTS file.
+#
+# Once run this will define: 
+# 
+# QWTPOLAR_FOUND       = system has QWTPolar lib
+# QWTPOLAR_LIBRARY     = full path to the QWTPolar library
+# QWTPOLAR_INCLUDE_DIR = where to find headers 
+#
+
+
+#MESSAGE("Searching for QWTPolar")
+FIND_PATH(QWTPOLAR_INCLUDE_DIR NAMES qwt_polar.h PATHS
+  /usr/include
+  /usr/local/include
+  "$ENV{LIB_DIR}/include" 
+  "$ENV{INCLUDE}" 
+  PATH_SUFFIXES qwt-qt4 qwt qwt5
+  )
+
+FIND_LIBRARY(QWTPOLAR_LIBRARY NAMES qwtpolar PATHS 
+  /usr/lib
+  /usr/local/lib
+  "$ENV{LIB_DIR}/lib" 
+  "$ENV{LIB}/lib" 
+  )
+
+IF (QWTPOLAR_INCLUDE_DIR AND QWTPOLAR_LIBRARY)
+  SET(QWTPOLAR_FOUND TRUE)
+ENDIF (QWTPOLAR_INCLUDE_DIR AND QWTPOLAR_LIBRARY)
+
+IF (QWTPOLAR_FOUND)
+  IF (NOT QWTPOLAR_FIND_QUIETLY)
+    MESSAGE(STATUS "Found QWTPolar: ${QWTPOLAR_LIBRARY}")
+  ENDIF (NOT QWTPOLAR_FIND_QUIETLY)
+ELSE (QWTPOLAR_FOUND)
+  IF (QWTPOLAR_FIND_REQUIRED)
+    MESSAGE(FATAL_ERROR "Could not find QWTPolar")
+  ENDIF (QWTPOLAR_FIND_REQUIRED)
+ENDIF (QWTPOLAR_FOUND)
diff --git a/src/app/CMakeLists.txt b/src/app/CMakeLists.txt
index 7a1541d9469..956dc82da13 100644
--- a/src/app/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/app/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -135,20 +135,7 @@ SET(QGIS_APP_SRCS
 
   gps/qgsgpsinformationwidget.cpp
   gps/qgsgpsmarker.cpp
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_canvas.cpp  
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_curve.cpp
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_fitter.cpp  
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_grid.cpp   
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_itemdict.cpp  
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_item.cpp
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_layout.cpp    
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_magnifier.cpp
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_marker.cpp     
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_panner.cpp
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_plot.cpp 
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_point.cpp
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_spectrogram.cpp
-)
+) 
 
 
 SET (QGIS_APP_MOC_HDRS
@@ -256,12 +243,39 @@ SET (QGIS_APP_MOC_HDRS
   attributetable/qgsattributetabledelegate.h
 
   gps/qgsgpsinformationwidget.h
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_canvas.h  
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_magnifier.h
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_panner.h
-  gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_plot.h 
   )
 
+IF(WITH_INTERNAL_QWTPOLAR)
+  SET(QGIS_APP_SRCS
+    ${QGIS_APP_SRCS}
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_canvas.cpp  
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_curve.cpp
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_fitter.cpp  
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_grid.cpp   
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_itemdict.cpp  
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_item.cpp
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_layout.cpp    
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_magnifier.cpp
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_marker.cpp     
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_panner.cpp
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_plot.cpp 
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_point.cpp
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_spectrogram.cpp
+  )
+
+  SET (QGIS_APP_MOC_HDRS
+    ${QGIS_APP_MOC_HDRS}
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_canvas.h  
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_magnifier.h
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_panner.h
+    gps/qwtpolar/qwt_polar_plot.h 
+  )
+
+  SET(QWTPOLAR_INCLUDE_DIR gps/qwtpolar)
+  SET(QWTPOLAR_LIBRARY "")
+ENDIF(WITH_INTERNAL_QWTPOLAR)
+
+
 IF (POSTGRES_FOUND)
   IF(HAVE_PGCONFIG)
     ADD_DEFINITIONS(-DHAVE_PGCONFIG=1)
@@ -339,7 +353,6 @@ INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(
   ../plugins
   ../python
   gps
-  gps/qwtpolar
   )
 
 IF (HAVE_SPATIALITE)
@@ -357,6 +370,7 @@ INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(
   ${PROJ_INCLUDE_DIR}
   ${GEOS_INCLUDE_DIR}
   ${GDAL_INCLUDE_DIR}
+  ${QWTPOLAR_INCLUDE_DIR}
 )
 
 IF (POSTGRES_FOUND)
@@ -382,6 +396,7 @@ TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(${QGIS_APP_NAME}
   ${QT_QTUITOOLS_LIBRARY}
   #should only be needed for win
   ${QT_QTMAIN_LIBRARY} 
+  ${QWTPOLAR_LIBRARY}
   qgis_core
   qgis_gui
   qgis_analysis