diff --git a/telluric/collections.py b/telluric/collections.py
index e7ee058..bfe1d77 100644
--- a/telluric/collections.py
+++ b/telluric/collections.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 from shapely.prepared import prep
 
 from telluric.constants import WEB_MERCATOR_CRS, WGS84_CRS
+from telluric.util.general import as_crs
 from telluric.vectors import GeoVector
 from telluric.features import GeoFeature
 from telluric.plotting import NotebookPlottingMixin
@@ -532,7 +533,7 @@ def open(cls, filename, crs=None):
         """
         with fiona.Env():
             with fiona.open(filename, 'r') as source:
-                original_crs = CRS(source.crs)
+                original_crs = as_crs(source.crs)
                 schema = source.schema
                 length = len(source)
         crs = crs or original_crs
diff --git a/telluric/georaster.py b/telluric/georaster.py
index 1137d5c..c2fcb8c 100644
--- a/telluric/georaster.py
+++ b/telluric/georaster.py
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
 from PIL import Image
 
 from telluric.constants import WEB_MERCATOR_CRS, MERCATOR_RESOLUTION_MAPPING, RASTER_TYPE, WGS84_CRS
+from telluric.util.general import as_crs
 from telluric.vectors import GeoVector
 from telluric.util.projections import transform
 from telluric.util.raster_utils import (
@@ -620,7 +621,7 @@ def __init__(self, image=None, affine=None, crs=None,
         """
         super().__init__(image=image, band_names=band_names, shape=shape, nodata=nodata)
         self._affine = deepcopy(affine)
-        self._crs = None if crs is None else CRS(crs)  # type: Union[None, CRS]
+        self._crs = None if crs is None else as_crs(crs)  # type: Union[None, CRS]
         self._filename = filename
         self._temporary = temporary
         self._footprint = copy(footprint)
diff --git a/telluric/util/general.py b/telluric/util/general.py
index d1dff59..d26e6f4 100644
--- a/telluric/util/general.py
+++ b/telluric/util/general.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import numpy as np
+from rasterio.crs import CRS
 
 
 def convert_meter_to_latlon_deg(lat_deg):
@@ -14,3 +15,7 @@ def convert_resolution_from_meters_to_deg(position_lat, gsd_metric):
     gsd_deg_lat = gsd_metric * m_to_deg_lat
     gsd_deg_lon = gsd_metric * m_to_deg_lon
     return gsd_deg_lon, gsd_deg_lat
+
+
+def as_crs(crs) -> CRS:
+    return crs if isinstance(crs, CRS) else CRS(crs)
diff --git a/telluric/vectors.py b/telluric/vectors.py
index 571dc1d..c2938f9 100644
--- a/telluric/vectors.py
+++ b/telluric/vectors.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 from typing import Tuple, Iterator
 
 from telluric.constants import DEFAULT_CRS, EQUAL_AREA_CRS, WGS84_CRS, WEB_MERCATOR_CRS
+from telluric.util.general import as_crs
 from telluric.util.projections import transform
 from telluric.plotting import NotebookPlottingMixin
 
@@ -289,7 +290,7 @@ def __init__(self, shape, crs=DEFAULT_CRS, safe=True):
 
         """
         self._shape = shape  # type: shapely.geometry.base.BaseGeometry
-        self._crs = CRS(crs)
+        self._crs = as_crs(crs)
 
     @classmethod
     def from_geojson(cls, filename):