diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Util.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Util.js
index 8d63340d1e..3a3ef27493 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Util.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Util.js
@@ -1346,7 +1346,21 @@ OpenLayers.Util.isEquivalentUrl = function(url1, url2, options) {
 OpenLayers.Util.createUrlObject = function(url, options) {
     options = options || {};
 
-    var urlObject = {};
+    // deal with relative urls first
+    if(!(/^\w+:\/\//).test(url)) {
+        var loc = window.location;
+        var port = loc.port ? ":" + loc.port : "";
+        var fullUrl = loc.protocol + "//" + loc.host + port;
+        if(url.indexOf("/") === 0) {
+            // full pathname
+            url = fullUrl + url;
+        } else {
+            // relative to current path
+            var parts = loc.pathname.split("/");
+            parts.pop();
+            url = fullUrl + parts.join("/") + "/" + url;
+        }
+    }
   
     if (options.ignoreCase) {
         url = url.toLowerCase(); 
@@ -1355,13 +1369,15 @@ OpenLayers.Util.createUrlObject = function(url, options) {
     var a = document.createElement('a');
     a.href = url;
     
+    var urlObject = {};
+    
   //host (without port)
     // if we don't have a host (which is the case with URLs starting with "/"
     // in IE), take the window location's host to match other browsers that
     // fill in the window's location host automatically
     urlObject.host = a.host || window.location.host;
     var port = a.port;
-    if (port.length <= 0) {
+    if (port.length > 0) {
         var newHostLength = urlObject.host.length - (port.length);
         urlObject.host = urlObject.host.substring(0, newHostLength); 
     }