diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Util.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Util.js
index d7582583b8..5ef3c612be 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Util.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Util.js
@@ -552,21 +552,32 @@ OpenLayers.Util.distVincenty=function(p1, p2) {
     var d = s.toFixed(3)/1000; // round to 1mm precision
     return d;
 };
-    
-OpenLayers.Util.getArgs = function() {
-    var args = new Object();
-    var query = location.search.substring(1);  // Get query string.
-    var pairs = query.split("&");              // Break at ampersand. //+pjl
 
-    for(var i = 0; i < pairs.length; i++) {
-        var pos = pairs[i].indexOf('=');       // Look for "name=value".
-        if (pos == -1) continue;               // If not found, skip.
-        var argname = pairs[i].substring(0,pos);  // Extract the name.
-        var value = pairs[i].substring(pos+1); // Extract the value.
-        args[argname] = unescape(value);          // Store as a property.
+/**
+ * @param {String} url Optional url used to extract the query string.
+ *                     If null, query string is taken from page location.
+ * 
+ * @returns An object of key/value pairs from the query string.
+ * @type Object
+ */
+OpenLayers.Util.getArgs = function(url) {
+    if(url == null) {
+        var query = window.location.search.substring(1);
+    } else {
+        var query = (url.indexOf('?') == -1) ?
+                        '' : url.substring(url.indexOf('?') + 1);
     }
-    return args;                               // Return the object.
-};
+    var args = new Object();
+    pairs = query.split(/[&;]/);
+    for(var i = 0; i < pairs.length; ++i) {
+        keyValue = pairs[i].split(/=/);
+        if(keyValue.length == 2) {
+            args[decodeURIComponent(keyValue[0])] =
+                decodeURIComponent(keyValue[1]);
+        }
+    }
+    return args;
+}
 
 /**
  * @param {String} prefix String to prefix random id. If null, default