diff --git a/src/sort.jl b/src/sort.jl
index 4def9362..9ff99a65 100644
--- a/src/sort.jl
+++ b/src/sort.jl
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ optimize_isequal(v::AbstractArray) = v
 optimize_isequal(v::PooledArray) = v.refs
 optimize_isequal(v::StructArray{<:Union{Tuple, NamedTuple}}) = StructArray(map(optimize_isequal, fieldarrays(v)))
 
+recover_original(v::AbstractArray, el) = el
+recover_original(v::PooledArray, el) = v.pool[el]
+recover_original(v::StructArray{T}, el) where {T<:Union{Tuple, NamedTuple}} = T(map(recover_original, fieldarrays(v), el))
+
 pool(v::AbstractArray, condition = !isbitstype∘eltype) = condition(v) ? convert(PooledArray, v) : v
 pool(v::StructArray, condition = !isbitstype∘eltype) = replace_storage(t -> pool(t, condition), v)
 
@@ -16,9 +20,9 @@ function Base.permute!(c::StructArray, p::AbstractVector)
     return c
 end
 
-struct TiedIndices{T<:AbstractVector, I<:Integer, U<:AbstractUnitRange}
+struct TiedIndices{T<:AbstractVector, V<:AbstractVector{<:Integer}, U<:AbstractUnitRange}
     vec::T
-    perm::Vector{I}
+    perm::V
     within::U
 end
 
@@ -44,17 +48,55 @@ function Base.iterate(n::TiedIndices, i = first(n.within))
     return (row => i:(i1-1), i1)
 end
 
-tiedindices(args...) = TiedIndices(args...)
+"""
+`tiedindices(v, perm=sortperm(v))`
+
+Given an abstract vector `v` and a permutation vector `perm`, return an iterator
+of pairs `val => range` where `range` is a maximal interval such as `v[perm[range]]`
+is constant: `val` is the unique value of `v[perm[range]]`.
+"""
+tiedindices(v, perm=sortperm(v)) = TiedIndices(v, perm)
+
+"""
+`maptiedindices(f, v, perm)`
+
+Given a function `f`, compute the iterator `tiedindices(v, perm)` and return
+in iterable object which yields `f(val, idxs)` where `val => idxs` are the pairs
+iterated by `tiedindices(v, perm)`.
+
+## Examples
+
+`maptiedindices` is a low level building block that can be used to define grouping
+operators. For example:
+
+```jldoctest
+julia> function mygroupby(f, keys, data)
+           perm = sortperm(keys)
+           StructArrays.maptiedindices(keys, perm) do key, idxs
+               key => f(data[perm[idxs]])
+           end
+       end
+mygroupby (generic function with 1 method)
+
+julia> StructArray(mygroupby(sum, [1, 2, 1, 3], [1, 4, 10, 11]))
+3-element StructArray{Pair{Int64,Int64},1,NamedTuple{(:first, :second),Tuple{Array{Int64,1},Array{Int64,1}}}}:
+ 1 => 11
+ 2 => 4
+ 3 => 11
+```
+"""
+function maptiedindices(f, v, perm)
+    fast_v = optimize_isequal(v)
+    itr = TiedIndices(fast_v, perm)
+    (f(recover_original(v, val), idxs) for (val, idxs) in itr)
+end
 
-function uniquesorted(args...)
-    t = tiedindices(args...)
-    (row for (row, _) in t)
+function uniquesorted(keys, perm=sortperm(keys))
+    maptiedindices((key, _) -> key, keys, perm)
 end
 
-function finduniquesorted(args...)
-    t = tiedindices(args...)
-    p = sortperm(t)
-    (row => p[idxs] for (row, idxs) in t)
+function finduniquesorted(keys, perm=sortperm(keys))
+    maptiedindices((key, idxs) -> (key => perm[idxs]), keys, perm)
 end
 
 function Base.sortperm(c::StructVector{T}) where {T<:Union{Tuple, NamedTuple}}
@@ -148,4 +190,3 @@ function sort_int_range_sub_by!(x, ioffs, n, by, rangelen, minval, temp)
     end
     x
 end
-
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index 9791d968..cb8d0fa9 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ end
     @test t[1] != t[3]
     @test t[1] == t[4]
     @test t[1][2] isa Integer
+    @test StructArrays.recover_original(s, t[1]) == s[1]
+    @test StructArrays.recover_original(s, t[2]) == s[2]
+    @test StructArrays.recover_original(s, t[3]) == s[3]
+    @test StructArrays.recover_original(s, t[4]) == s[4]
 end
 
 @testset "namedtuple" begin