diff --git a/pycsw/ogc/api/templates/items.html b/pycsw/ogc/api/templates/items.html
index a7b916781..fa9efe2c6 100644
--- a/pycsw/ogc/api/templates/items.html
+++ b/pycsw/ogc/api/templates/items.html
@@ -211,14 +211,16 @@
function facet(val){
location.href="{{updateurl('facets','facetprop')}}".replace('facetprop',val);
}
+
//if url has a bbox, enable the spatial filter
-{% if 'bbox' in attrs.keys() and (attrs['bbox'].split('%2C')|length) == 4 %}
-var bbox = [
- [{{ attrs['bbox'].split('%2C')[1] }}, {{ attrs['bbox'].split('%2C')[0] }}],
- [{{ attrs['bbox'].split('%2C')[3] }}, {{ attrs['bbox'].split('%2C')[2] }}]
- ]
-{% else %}
-var bbox = null;
+var bbox;
+{% if 'bbox' in attrs.keys() %}
+ {% set bbox_tokens = attrs['bbox'].split('%2C') %}
+ {% if bbox_tokens|length == 4 %}
+ bbox = [[{{
+ bbox_tokens[1] }}, {{ bbox_tokens[0] }}], [{{
+ bbox_tokens[3] }}, {{ bbox_tokens[2] }}]];
+ {% endif %}
{% endif %}
//if filter enabled, apply the spatial filter