diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Util.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Util.js
index a455e77948..6d7681bf9b 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Util.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Util.js
@@ -943,14 +943,15 @@ OpenLayers.Util.destinationVincenty = function(lonlat, brng, dist) {
  * 
  * Parameters:
  * url - {String} Optional url used to extract the query string.
- *                If null, query string is taken from page location.
+ *                If url is null or is not supplied, query string is taken 
+ *                from the page location.
  * 
  * Returns:
  * {Object} An object of key/value pairs from the query string.
  */
 OpenLayers.Util.getParameters = function(url) {
     // if no url specified, take it from the location bar
-    url = url || window.location.href;
+    url = (url === null || url === undefined) ? window.location.href : url;
 
     //parse out parameters portion of url string
     var paramsString = "";
diff --git a/tests/Util.html b/tests/Util.html
index e1476041aa..f70cbb9ddf 100644
--- a/tests/Util.html
+++ b/tests/Util.html
@@ -952,7 +952,16 @@
     }
 
     function test_Util_getParameters(t) {
-        t.plan(17);
+        t.plan(20);
+
+        t.eq(OpenLayers.Util.getParameters(''), {},
+                "getParameters works when the given argument is empty string");
+
+        t.eq(OpenLayers.Util.getParameters(), {},
+                "getParameters works with optional argument");
+
+        t.eq(OpenLayers.Util.getParameters(null), {},
+                "getParameters works with optional argument");
 
         t.eq(OpenLayers.Util.getParameters('http://www.example.com'), {},
              "getParameters works when args = ''");