diff --git a/geopandas/__init__.py b/geopandas/__init__.py
index b02d9b9..032ec42 100644
--- a/geopandas/__init__.py
+++ b/geopandas/__init__.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from geopandas.geodataframe import GeoDataFrame
 from geopandas.io.file import read_file
 from geopandas.io.sql import read_postgis
 from geopandas.tools import sjoin
+from geopandas.tools import overlay
 
 # make the interactive namespace easier to use
 # for `from geopandas import *` demos.
diff --git a/geopandas/tests/test_overlay.py b/geopandas/tests/test_overlay.py
index 0586fac..9aa1e3c 100644
--- a/geopandas/tests/test_overlay.py
+++ b/geopandas/tests/test_overlay.py
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ import shutil
 from shapely.geometry import Point
 
 from geopandas import GeoDataFrame, read_file
-from geopandas.tools import overlay
 from geopandas.tests.util import unittest, download_nybb
+from geopandas import overlay
 
 
 class TestDataFrame(unittest.TestCase):