diff --git a/src/core/js/ext_map.js b/src/core/js/ext_map.js
index 2bf31cdff5617da9053e31d346a533bc2f851ada..b4e4444645639de80cab07a89ead269d500f8d24 100644
--- a/src/core/js/ext_map.js
+++ b/src/core/js/ext_map.js
@@ -1581,6 +1581,14 @@ var caosdb_map = new function () {
                 var lat_vals = getProperty(map_entity, datamodel.lat);
                 var lng_vals = getProperty(map_entity, datamodel.lng);
 
+                if (!lng_vals || !lng_vals) {
+                    logger.debug("undefined latitude or longitude",
+                        map_entity, lat_vals, lng_vals);
+                    continue;
+                }
+
+                // we need lat_vals and lng_lavs to be arrays so we make them
+                // be one
                 var is_list_lat = true;
                 if (!Array.isArray(lat_vals)) {
                     lat_vals = [lat_vals];
@@ -1591,11 +1599,9 @@ var caosdb_map = new function () {
                     lng_vals = [lng_vals];
                     is_list_lng = false;
                 }
-                if (!lng_vals || !lng_vals) {
-                    logger.debug("undefined latitude or longitude",
-                        map_entity, lat_vals, lng_vals);
-                    continue;
-                } else if (is_list_lng !== is_list_lat
+
+                // both array's length must match
+                if (is_list_lng !== is_list_lat
                            || (is_list_lat && is_list_lng
                                && lat_vals.length !== lng_vals.length)) {
                     logger.error("Cannot show this entity on the map. "