diff --git a/src/main/java/seng302/server/simulator/parsers/CourseParser.java b/src/main/java/seng302/server/simulator/parsers/CourseParser.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..831626e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/seng302/server/simulator/parsers/CourseParser.java
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+package seng302.server.simulator.parsers;
+
+import org.w3c.dom.Document;
+import org.w3c.dom.Element;
+import org.w3c.dom.Node;
+import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;
+import seng302.server.simulator.mark.CompoundMark;
+import seng302.server.simulator.mark.Corner;
+import seng302.server.simulator.mark.Mark;
+import seng302.server.simulator.mark.RoundingType;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+/**
+ * parse a course xml file
+ * Created by Haoming Yin (hyi25) on 16/3/2017
+ */
+public class CourseParser extends FileParser {
+
+	private Document doc;
+	private Map<Integer, CompoundMark> compoundMarksMap;
+
+	public CourseParser(String path) {
+		super(path);
+		this.doc = this.parseFile();
+	}
+
+	public List<Corner> getCourse() {
+		compoundMarksMap = getCompoundMarks(doc);
+		List<Corner> corners = new ArrayList<>();
+		NodeList cMarksSequence = doc.getElementsByTagName("CompoundMarkSequence");
+
+		for (int i = 0; i < cMarksSequence.getLength(); i++) {
+			corners.add(getCorner(cMarksSequence.item(i)));
+		}
+		return corners;
+	}
+
+
+	private Corner getCorner(Node node) {
+		if (node.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
+			Element e = (Element) node;
+
+			Integer seqId = Integer.valueOf(e.getAttribute("SeqID"));
+			Integer cMarkId = Integer.valueOf(e.getAttribute("CompoundMarkID"));
+			CompoundMark cMark = compoundMarksMap.get(cMarkId);
+			RoundingType roundingType = RoundingType.valueOf(e.getAttribute("Rounding"));
+			Integer zoneSize = Integer.valueOf(e.getAttribute("ZoneSize"));
+
+			return new Corner(seqId, cMark, roundingType, zoneSize);
+		}
+		return null;
+	}
+
+	private Map<Integer, CompoundMark> getCompoundMarks(Node node) {
+		Map<Integer, CompoundMark> compoundMarksMap = new HashMap<>();
+
+		if (node.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
+			Element element = (Element) node;
+			NodeList course = element.getElementsByTagName("Course");
+
+			// loop through all compound marks who are the children of course node
+			for (int i = 0; i < course.getLength(); i++) {
+				CompoundMark cMark = getCompoundMark(course.item(i));
+				if (cMark != null)
+					compoundMarksMap.put(cMark.getMarkID(), cMark);
+			}
+
+			return compoundMarksMap;
+		}
+		return null;
+	}
+
+
+	private CompoundMark getCompoundMark(Node node) {
+		if (node.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
+			Element e = (Element) node;
+			Integer markID = Integer.valueOf(e.getAttribute("CompoundmarkID"));
+			String name = e.getAttribute("Name");
+			CompoundMark cMark = new CompoundMark(markID, name);
+
+			NodeList marks = e.getElementsByTagName("Mark");
+			for (int i = 0; i < marks.getLength(); i++) {
+				Mark mark = getMark(marks.item(i));
+				if (mark != null)
+					cMark.addMark(mark.getSeqID(), mark);
+			}
+			return cMark;
+		}
+		System.out.println("Failed to create compound mark.");
+		return null;
+	}
+
+
+	private Mark getMark(Node node) {
+		if (node.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
+			Element e = (Element) node;
+			Integer seqId = Integer.valueOf(e.getAttribute("SeqID"));
+			String name = e.getAttribute("Name");
+			Double lat = Double.valueOf(e.getAttribute("TargetLat"));
+			Double lng = Double.valueOf(e.getAttribute("TargetLng"));
+
+			Mark mark = new Mark(name, lat, lng);
+			mark.setSeqID(seqId);
+
+			return mark;
+		}
+		System.out.println("Failed to create mark.");
+		return null;
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/seng302/server/simulator/parsers/FileParser.java b/src/main/java/seng302/server/simulator/parsers/FileParser.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b82378f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/seng302/server/simulator/parsers/FileParser.java
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+package seng302.server.simulator.parsers;
+
+import org.w3c.dom.Document;
+
+import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder;
+import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+
+/**
+ * Created by Haoming Yin (hyi25) on 16/3/2017
+ */
+public abstract class FileParser {
+
+    private String filePath;
+
+    public FileParser(String path) {
+        this.filePath = path;
+    }
+
+    protected Document parseFile() {
+        try {
+            InputStream is = getClass().getResourceAsStream(this.filePath);
+            DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
+            DocumentBuilder builder = factory.newDocumentBuilder();
+            Document doc = builder.parse(is);
+            // optional, in order to recover info from broken line.
+            doc.getDocumentElement().normalize();
+            return doc;
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+            return null;
+        }
+
+    }
+}