diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0ad52804..fcbdf964 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ target/
 /vtm-gdx-ios/
 /vtm-spatialite/
 /vtm-spatialite-android/
-/vtm-ext-libs/
 /vtm-examples/
 /vtm-osmscout/
 /vtm-stuff/
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..859adaca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "vtm-ext-libs"]
+	path = vtm-ext-libs
+	url = https://github.com/hjanetzek/vtm-ext-libs.git
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1b548e4d..ce06737e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ http://www.opensciencemap.org
 - Backends for Android, Desktop and HTML5/WebGL (through libgdx and GWT)
 
 ### Notes
+- checkout required libraries with 'git submodule init && git submodule update'
 - To set up your own tile server for .vtm tiles see https://github.com/opensciencemap/TileStache/tree/master/TileStache/OSciMap4
 - Almost everything is still in early/experimental stage and subject for being rewritten
 - pull requests welcome :)
diff --git a/vtm-ext-libs b/vtm-ext-libs
new file mode 160000
index 00000000..9fb9cf2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vtm-ext-libs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 9fb9cf2dfe41815843d0eeae23fdebe64cf6431d