diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/geo/GeoShapeFieldMapper.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/geo/GeoShapeFieldMapper.java
index 34ed79984df96..9118aa9478937 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/geo/GeoShapeFieldMapper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/geo/GeoShapeFieldMapper.java
@@ -213,6 +213,9 @@ public FieldDataType defaultFieldDataType() {
     public void parse(ParseContext context) throws IOException {
         try {
             ShapeBuilder shape = ShapeBuilder.parse(context.parser());
+            if(shape == null) {
+                return;
+            }
             Field[] fields = defaultStrategy.createIndexableFields(shape.build());
             if (fields == null || fields.length == 0) {
                 return;
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/search/geo/GeoShapeIntegrationTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/search/geo/GeoShapeIntegrationTests.java
index 8186bf945f4e8..a5a0090677b54 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/search/geo/GeoShapeIntegrationTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/search/geo/GeoShapeIntegrationTests.java
@@ -21,18 +21,16 @@
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory.jsonBuilder;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.FilterBuilders.geoIntersectionFilter;
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders.filteredQuery;
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders.geoShapeQuery;
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders.matchAllQuery;
+import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders.*;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertHitCount;
 import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.instanceOf;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.*;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.action.get.GetResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.geo.builders.ShapeBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
@@ -43,6 +41,21 @@
 
 public class GeoShapeIntegrationTests extends AbstractSharedClusterTest {
 
+    @Test
+    public void testNullShape() throws Exception {
+        String mapping = XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject("type1")
+                .startObject("properties").startObject("location")
+                .field("type", "geo_shape")
+                .endObject().endObject()
+                .endObject().endObject().string();
+        prepareCreate("test").addMapping("type1", mapping).execute().actionGet();
+        ensureGreen();
+        
+        client().prepareIndex("test", "type1", "aNullshape").setSource("{\"location\": null}").execute().actionGet();
+        GetResponse result = client().prepareGet("test", "type1", "aNullshape").execute().actionGet();
+        assertThat(result.getField("location"), nullValue());
+    }
+    
     @Test
     public void testIndexPointsFilterRectangle() throws Exception {
         String mapping = XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject("type1")