diff --git a/src/wmtk/Mesh.hpp b/src/wmtk/Mesh.hpp
index 5220b3ef3b..71fed7ca9f 100644
--- a/src/wmtk/Mesh.hpp
+++ b/src/wmtk/Mesh.hpp
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
 #include "attribute/AttributeManager.hpp"
 #include "attribute/AttributeScopeHandle.hpp"
 #include "attribute/MeshAttributes.hpp"
+// included to make a friend as this requires IDs
+#include <wmtk/multimesh/same_simplex_dimension_surjection.hpp>
 
 #include "simplex/Simplex.hpp"
 
@@ -47,6 +49,10 @@ class Mesh : public std::enable_shared_from_this<Mesh>
     friend class ParaviewWriter;
     friend class MeshReader;
     friend class MultiMeshManager;
+    friend std::vector<std::array<Tuple, 2>> multimesh::same_simplex_dimension_surjection(
+        const Mesh& parent,
+        const Mesh& child,
+        const std::vector<long>& parent_simplices);
 
     virtual PrimitiveType top_simplex_type() const = 0;
 
@@ -358,7 +364,8 @@ class Mesh : public std::enable_shared_from_this<Mesh>
     // std::shared_ptr<AccessorCache> request_accesor_cache();
     //[[nodiscard]] AccessorScopeHandle push_accesor_scope();
 
-protected: // THese are protected so unit tests can access - do not use manually in other derived classes?
+protected: // THese are protected so unit tests can access - do not use manually in other derived
+           // classes?
     attribute::AttributeManager m_attribute_manager;
 
     MultiMeshManager m_multi_mesh_manager;
diff --git a/src/wmtk/multimesh/CMakeLists.txt b/src/wmtk/multimesh/CMakeLists.txt
index 512d2b1553..d41a4a8680 100644
--- a/src/wmtk/multimesh/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/wmtk/multimesh/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1 +1,8 @@
+
+set(SRC_FILES
+    same_simplex_dimension_surjection.hpp
+    same_simplex_dimension_surjection.cpp
+    )
+target_sources(wildmeshing_toolkit PRIVATE ${SRC_FILES})
+
 add_subdirectory(utils)
diff --git a/src/wmtk/multimesh/same_simplex_dimension_surjection.cpp b/src/wmtk/multimesh/same_simplex_dimension_surjection.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..54d7ff32d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/wmtk/multimesh/same_simplex_dimension_surjection.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#include "same_simplex_dimension_surjection.hpp"
+#include <numeric>
+#include <wmtk/Mesh.hpp>
+
+
+namespace wmtk::multimesh {
+std::vector<std::array<Tuple, 2>> same_simplex_dimension_surjection(
+    const Mesh& parent,
+    const Mesh& child)
+{
+    PrimitiveType primitive_type = parent.top_simplex_type();
+    assert(primitive_type == child.top_simplex_type());
+    long size = parent.capacity(primitive_type);
+    assert(size == child.capacity(primitive_type));
+    std::vector<long> ps;
+    ps.reserve(size);
+    std::iota(ps.begin(), ps.end(), 0);
+    return same_simplex_dimension_surjection(parent, child, ps);
+}
+
+std::vector<std::array<Tuple, 2>> same_simplex_dimension_surjection(
+    const Mesh& parent,
+    const Mesh& child,
+    const std::vector<long>& parent_simplices)
+{
+    PrimitiveType primitive_type = parent.top_simplex_type();
+    assert(primitive_type == child.top_simplex_type());
+
+    long size = child.capacity(primitive_type);
+    assert(size == long(parent_simplices.size()));
+    std::vector<std::array<Tuple, 2>> ret;
+    ret.reserve(size);
+
+    auto parent_flag_accessor = parent.get_const_flag_accessor(primitive_type);
+    auto child_flag_accessor = child.get_const_flag_accessor(primitive_type);
+
+    for (long index = 0; index < size; ++index) {
+        const Tuple ct = child.tuple_from_id(primitive_type, index);
+        const Tuple pt = parent.tuple_from_id(primitive_type, parent_simplices.at(index));
+        if (parent_flag_accessor.const_scalar_attribute(pt) & 1 == 0) {
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (child_flag_accessor.const_scalar_attribute(pt) & 1 == 0) {
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        ret.emplace_back(std::array<Tuple, 2>{{pt, ct}});
+    }
+    return ret;
+}
+} // namespace wmtk::multimesh
diff --git a/src/wmtk/multimesh/same_simplex_dimension_surjection.hpp b/src/wmtk/multimesh/same_simplex_dimension_surjection.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..81fb2c75c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/wmtk/multimesh/same_simplex_dimension_surjection.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#pragma once
+#include <array>
+#include <vector>
+#include <wmtk/Tuple.hpp>
+
+namespace wmtk {
+class Mesh;
+}
+
+namespace wmtk::multimesh {
+
+// Handles the "trivial " mapping case as we see in OBJ files
+// parent and child are assumed to be homogeneous meshes of the same dimension and the same number
+// of top level simplices It is assumed that for each index between [0,num_top_level_simplices) it
+// is assumed that the tuple parent.tuple_from_id(pt,index) should be mapped to
+// child.tuple_from_id(pt,index)
+std::vector<std::array<Tuple, 2>> same_simplex_dimension_surjection(
+    const Mesh& parent,
+    const Mesh& child);
+// same as above except  the mapping selects a subset of parent_simplices
+// the tuple parent.tuple_from_id(pt,parent_simplices[index]) should be mapped to
+// child.tuple_from_id(pt,index)
+std::vector<std::array<Tuple, 2>> same_simplex_dimension_surjection(
+    const Mesh& parent,
+    const Mesh& child,
+    const std::vector<long>& parent_simplices);
+} // namespace wmtk::multimesh