diff --git a/js/id/actions/orthogonalize.js b/js/id/actions/orthogonalize.js
index 41fca79e3..d04317d78 100644
--- a/js/id/actions/orthogonalize.js
+++ b/js/id/actions/orthogonalize.js
@@ -6,34 +6,48 @@ iD.actions.Orthogonalize = function(wayId, projection) {
     var action = function(graph) {
         var way = graph.entity(wayId),
             nodes = graph.childNodes(way),
-            points = nodes.map(function(n) { return projection(n.loc); }),
-            best, i, j;
+            corner = {i: 0, dotp: 1},
+            points, i, j, score, motions;
 
-        var score = squareness();
-        for (i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
-            var motions = points.map(stepMap);
-            for (j = 0; j < motions.length; j++) {
-                points[j] = addPoints(points[j],motions[j]);
+        if (nodes.length === 4) {
+            points = _.uniq(nodes).map(function(n) { return projection(n.loc); });
+            for (i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
+                motions = points.map(calcMotion);
+                points[corner.i] = addPoints(points[corner.i],motions[corner.i]);
+                score = corner.dotp;
+                if (score < 1.0e-8) {
+                    break;
+                }
             }
-            var newScore = squareness();
-            if (newScore < score) {
-                best = _.clone(points);
-                score = newScore;
+            graph = graph.replace(graph.entity(nodes[corner.i].id)
+                .move(projection.invert(points[corner.i])));
+        } else {
+            var best;
+            points = nodes.map(function(n) { return projection(n.loc); });
+            score = squareness();
+            for (i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
+                motions = points.map(calcMotion);
+                for (j = 0; j < motions.length; j++) {
+                    points[j] = addPoints(points[j],motions[j]);
+                }
+                var newScore = squareness();
+                if (newScore < score) {
+                    best = _.clone(points);
+                    score = newScore;
+                }
+                if (score < 1.0e-8) {
+                    break;
+                }
             }
-            if (score < 1.0e-8) {
-                break;
+            points = best;
+            for (i = 0; i < points.length - 1; i++) {
+                graph = graph.replace(graph.entity(nodes[i].id)
+                    .move(projection.invert(points[i])));
             }
         }
-        points = best;
-
-        for (i = 0; i < points.length - 1; i++) {
-            graph = graph.replace(graph.entity(nodes[i].id)
-                .move(projection.invert(points[i])));
-        }
-
         return graph;
 
-        function stepMap(b, i, array) {
+        function calcMotion(b, i, array) {
             var a = array[(i - 1 + array.length) % array.length],
                 c = array[(i + 1) % array.length],
                 p = subtractPoints(a, b),
@@ -44,9 +58,17 @@ iD.actions.Orthogonalize = function(wayId, projection) {
             q = normalizePoint(q, 1.0);
 
             var dotp = p[0] * q[0] + p[1] * q[1];
+
             // nasty hack to deal with almost-straight segments (angle is closer to 180 than to 90/270).
-            if (dotp < -0.707106781186547) {
-                dotp += 1.0;
+            if (array.length > 3) {
+                if (dotp < -0.707106781186547) {
+                    dotp += 1.0;
+                }
+            } else {
+                if( Math.abs(dotp) < corner.dotp){
+                    corner.i = i;
+                    corner.dotp = Math.abs(dotp);
+                }
             }
 
             return normalizePoint(addPoints(p, q), 0.1 * dotp * scale);
@@ -86,7 +108,7 @@ iD.actions.Orthogonalize = function(wayId, projection) {
             return [a[0] + b[0], a[1] + b[1]];
         }
 
-        function normalizePoint(point, thickness) {
+        function normalizePoint(point, scale) {
             var vector = [0, 0];
             var length = Math.sqrt(point[0] * point[0] + point[1] * point[1]);
             if (length !== 0) {
@@ -94,8 +116,8 @@ iD.actions.Orthogonalize = function(wayId, projection) {
                 vector[1] = point[1] / length;
             }
 
-            vector[0] *= thickness;
-            vector[1] *= thickness;
+            vector[0] *= scale;
+            vector[1] *= scale;
 
             return vector;
         }
diff --git a/js/id/operations/orthogonalize.js b/js/id/operations/orthogonalize.js
index 482c4ba5b..2e5844398 100644
--- a/js/id/operations/orthogonalize.js
+++ b/js/id/operations/orthogonalize.js
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ iD.operations.Orthogonalize = function(selection, context) {
     operation.available = function() {
         return selection.length === 1 &&
             context.entity(entityId).type === 'way' &&
-            _.uniq(context.entity(entityId).nodes).length > 3;
+            _.uniq(context.entity(entityId).nodes).length > 2;
     };
 
     operation.enabled = function() {
diff --git a/test/index.html b/test/index.html
index 173e22592..c0f7be5f2 100644
--- a/test/index.html
+++ b/test/index.html
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@
     <script src="spec/actions/add_entity.js"></script>
     <script src="spec/actions/change_tags.js"></script>
     <script src='spec/actions/circularize.js'></script>
+    <script src='spec/actions/orthogonalize.js'></script>
     <script src='spec/actions/connect.js'></script>
     <script src="spec/actions/delete_multiple.js"></script>
     <script src="spec/actions/delete_node.js"></script>
diff --git a/test/spec/actions/orthogonalize.js b/test/spec/actions/orthogonalize.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..690d73140
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/spec/actions/orthogonalize.js
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+describe("iD.actions.Orthogonalize", function () {
+    var projection = d3.geo.mercator();
+
+    it("orthoganalizes a quad", function () {
+        var graph = iD.Graph({
+                'a': iD.Node({id: 'a', loc: [0, 0]}),
+                'b': iD.Node({id: 'b', loc: [4, 0]}),
+                'c': iD.Node({id: 'c', loc: [3, 2]}),
+                'd': iD.Node({id: 'd', loc: [0, 2]}),
+                '-': iD.Way({id: '-', nodes: ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'a']})
+            });
+
+        graph = iD.actions.Orthogonalize('-', projection)(graph);
+
+        expect(graph.entity('-').nodes).to.have.length(5);
+    });
+
+    it("orthoganalizes a triangle", function () {
+        var graph = iD.Graph({
+                'a': iD.Node({id: 'a', loc: [0, 0]}),
+                'b': iD.Node({id: 'b', loc: [3, 0]}),
+                'c': iD.Node({id: 'c', loc: [2, 2]}),
+                '-': iD.Way({id: '-', nodes: ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a']})
+            });
+
+        graph = iD.actions.Orthogonalize('-', projection)(graph);
+
+        expect(graph.entity('-').nodes).to.have.length(4);
+    });
+});