diff --git a/js/id/svg.js b/js/id/svg.js
index bf73f32b8..e2b1dc2ad 100644
--- a/js/id/svg.js
+++ b/js/id/svg.js
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ iD.svg = {
             }
 
             if (entity.nodes.length === 0) {
-                return (cache[entity.id] = '');
+                return (cache[entity.id] = null);
             }
 
             return (cache[entity.id] =
diff --git a/test/spec/svg.js b/test/spec/svg.js
index bbb78c990..265562071 100644
--- a/test/spec/svg.js
+++ b/test/spec/svg.js
@@ -7,4 +7,11 @@ describe("iD.svg.LineString", function () {
 
         expect(iD.svg.LineString(projection)(way)).to.equal("M0,0L2,3");
     });
+
+    it("returns null for an entity with no nodes", function () {
+        var way = iD.Way(),
+            projection = Object;
+
+        expect(iD.svg.LineString(projection)(way)).to.be.null;
+    });
 });