diff --git a/null.go b/null.go
index ab143b8..cc603e6 100644
--- a/null.go
+++ b/null.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"database/sql"
 	"database/sql/driver"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 )
 
 // Int is an int that will write as null when it is zero both to databases and json
@@ -136,3 +137,76 @@ func (s String) Value() (driver.Value, error) {
 	}
 	return string(s), nil
 }
+
+// StringMap is a one level deep dictionary that is represented as JSON text in the database.
+// Empty maps will be written as null to the database and to JSON.
+type StringMap struct {
+	m map[string]string
+}
+
+// NewStringMap creates a new StringMap
+func NewStringMap(m map[string]string) StringMap {
+	return StringMap{m: m}
+}
+
+// Map returns our underlying map
+func (m *StringMap) Map() map[string]string {
+	if m.m == nil {
+		m.m = make(map[string]string)
+	}
+	return m.m
+}
+
+// Scan implements the Scanner interface for decoding from a database
+func (m *StringMap) Scan(src interface{}) error {
+	m.m = make(map[string]string)
+	if src == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	var source []byte
+	switch src.(type) {
+	case string:
+		source = []byte(src.(string))
+	case []byte:
+		source = src.([]byte)
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("incompatible type for map")
+	}
+
+	// 0 length string is same as nil
+	if len(source) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	err := json.Unmarshal(source, &m.m)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Value implements the driver Valuer interface
+func (m StringMap) Value() (driver.Value, error) {
+	if m.m == nil || len(m.m) == 0 {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	return json.Marshal(m.m)
+}
+
+// MarshalJSON encodes our map to JSON
+func (m StringMap) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
+	if m.m == nil || len(m.m) == 0 {
+		return json.Marshal(nil)
+	}
+	return json.Marshal(m.m)
+}
+
+// UnmarshalJSON sets our map from the passed in JSON
+func (m *StringMap) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
+	m.m = make(map[string]string)
+	if len(data) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return json.Unmarshal(data, &m.m)
+}
diff --git a/null_test.go b/null_test.go
index db81013..ca846db 100644
--- a/null_test.go
+++ b/null_test.go
@@ -297,3 +297,69 @@ func TestString(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.True(t, tc.Value == str)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestMap(t *testing.T) {
+	db, err := sql.Open("postgres", "postgres://localhost/null_test?sslmode=disable")
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+	_, err = db.Exec(`DROP TABLE IF EXISTS map; CREATE TABLE map(value varchar(255) null);`)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+	sp := func(s string) *string {
+		return &s
+	}
+
+	tcs := []struct {
+		Value StringMap
+		JSON  string
+		DB    *string
+	}{
+		{NewStringMap(map[string]string{"foo": "bar"}), `{"foo":"bar"}`, sp(`{"foo": "bar"}`)},
+		{NewStringMap(map[string]string{}), "null", nil},
+		{NewStringMap(nil), "null", nil},
+		{NewStringMap(nil), "null", sp("")},
+	}
+
+	for i, tc := range tcs {
+		_, err = db.Exec(`DELETE FROM map;`)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+		b, err := json.Marshal(tc.Value)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, tc.JSON, string(b), "%d: %s not equal to %s", i, tc.JSON, string(b))
+
+		m := StringMap{}
+		err = json.Unmarshal(b, &m)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, tc.Value.Map(), m.Map(), "%d: %s not equal to %s", i, tc.Value, m)
+
+		_, err = db.Exec(`INSERT INTO map(value) VALUES($1)`, tc.Value)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+		rows, err := db.Query(`SELECT value FROM map;`)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+		m2 := StringMap{}
+		assert.True(t, rows.Next())
+		err = rows.Scan(&m2)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+		assert.Equal(t, tc.Value.Map(), m2.Map())
+
+		_, err = db.Exec(`DELETE FROM map;`)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+		_, err = db.Exec(`INSERT INTO map(value) VALUES($1)`, tc.DB)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+		rows, err = db.Query(`SELECT value FROM map;`)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+		m2 = StringMap{}
+		assert.True(t, rows.Next())
+		err = rows.Scan(&m2)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+		assert.Equal(t, tc.Value.Map(), m2.Map())
+	}
+}