diff --git a/sitemap/iso8601.py b/sitemap/iso8601.py
index a51be3e..aac7262 100755
--- a/sitemap/iso8601.py
+++ b/sitemap/iso8601.py
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ class FixedOffset(tzinfo):
     """Fixed offset in hours and minutes from UTC
     
     """
-    def __init__(self, offset_hours, offset_minutes, name):
+    def set(self, offset_hours, offset_minutes, name):
         self.__offset = timedelta(hours=offset_hours, minutes=offset_minutes)
         self.__name = name
 
@@ -76,7 +76,9 @@ def parse_timezone(tzstring, default_timezone=UTC):
     if prefix == "-":
         hours = -hours
         minutes = -minutes
-    return FixedOffset(hours, minutes, tzstring)
+    offset = FixedOffset()
+    offset.set(hours, minutes, tzstring)
+    return offset
 
 def parse_date(datestring, default_timezone=UTC):
     """Parses ISO 8601 dates into datetime objects
diff --git a/sitemap/sitemapindex.py b/sitemap/sitemapindex.py
index 644e54d..c00012b 100644
--- a/sitemap/sitemapindex.py
+++ b/sitemap/sitemapindex.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-
+import sys
 from lxml import etree
 from urllib import urlopen
 from cStringIO import StringIO
@@ -7,6 +7,22 @@
 from urlset import *
 from exceptions import *
 
+def generate_sitemapindex(sitemaps,out=sys.stdout):
+    sitemapindex = etree.Element("sitemapindex",xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9")
+    for map in sitemaps:
+        sitemap = etree.Element("sitemap")
+        loc = etree.Element("loc")
+        lastmod = etree.Element("lastmod")
+        loc.text = map['loc']
+        sitemap.append(loc)
+        if map.has_key('lastmod'):
+            lastmod.text = map['lastmod'].isoformat()
+            sitemap.append(lastmod)
+        sitemapindex.append(sitemap)
+    out.write(etree.tostring(sitemapindex,xml_declaration=True,pretty_print=True,encoding="UTF-8"))
+
+
+
 class SitemapIndex(object):
 
     @staticmethod