diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/GML.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/GML.js
index 033536120e..36d8f5352c 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/GML.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/GML.js
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ OpenLayers.Format.GML = OpenLayers.Class(OpenLayers.Format.XML, {
             // look for <gml:posList>
             nodeList = this.getElementsByTagNameNS(node, this.gmlns, "posList");
             if(nodeList.length > 0) {
-                coordString = nodeList[0].firstChild.nodeValue;
+                coordString = this.concatChildValues(nodeList[0]);
                 coordString = coordString.replace(this.regExes.trimSpace, "");
                 coords = coordString.split(this.regExes.splitSpace);
                 var dim = parseInt(nodeList[0].getAttribute("dimension"));
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ OpenLayers.Format.GML = OpenLayers.Class(OpenLayers.Format.XML, {
                 nodeList = this.getElementsByTagNameNS(node, this.gmlns,
                                                        "coordinates");
                 if(nodeList.length > 0) {
-                    coordString = nodeList[0].firstChild.nodeValue;
+                    coordString = this.concatChildValues(nodeList[0]);
                     coordString = coordString.replace(this.regExes.trimSpace,
                                                       "");
                     coordString = coordString.replace(this.regExes.trimComma,
diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/XML.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/XML.js
index 44920e06a8..15afffa1a5 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/XML.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/XML.js
@@ -256,6 +256,62 @@ OpenLayers.Format.XML = OpenLayers.Class(OpenLayers.Format, {
         }
         return attributeValue;
     },
+    
+    /**
+     * APIMethod: getChildValue
+     * Get the value of the first child node if it exists, or return an
+     *     optional default string.  Returns an empty string if no first child
+     *     exists and no default value is supplied.
+     *
+     * Parameters:
+     * node - {DOMElement} The element used to look for a first child value.
+     * def - {String} Optional string to return in the event that no
+     *     first child value exists.
+     *
+     * Returns:
+     * {String} The value of the first child of the given node.
+     */
+    getChildValue: function(node, def) {
+        var value;
+        try {
+            value = node.firstChild.nodeValue;
+        } catch(e) {
+            value = (def != undefined) ? def : "";
+        }
+        return value;
+    },
+
+    /**
+     * APIMethod: concatChildValues
+     * Concatenate the value of all child nodes if any exist, or return an
+     *     optional default string.  Returns an empty string if no children
+     *     exist and no default value is supplied.  Not optimized for large
+     *     numbers of child nodes.
+     *
+     * Parameters:
+     * node - {DOMElement} The element used to look for child values.
+     * def - {String} Optional string to return in the event that no
+     *     child exist.
+     *
+     * Returns:
+     * {String} The concatenated value of all child nodes of the given node.
+     */
+    concatChildValues: function(node, def) {
+        var value = "";
+        var child = node.firstChild;
+        var childValue;
+        while(child) {
+            childValue = child.nodeValue;
+            if(childValue) {
+                value += childValue;
+            }
+            child = child.nextSibling;
+        }
+        if(value == "" && def != undefined) {
+            value = def;
+        }
+        return value;
+    },
 
     /**
      * APIMethod: hasAttributeNS