diff --git a/lib/apis/places.js b/lib/apis/places.js
index 717a2fbe24..e6519221e6 100644
--- a/lib/apis/places.js
+++ b/lib/apis/places.js
@@ -51,13 +51,34 @@ exports.findPlace = {
       timeout: v.optional(v.number)
     }),
     function(query) {
-      var latLng = /^([-+]?\d{1,2}([.]\d+)?),*([-+]?\d{1,3}([.]\d+)?)$/;
-      var parts = ['ipbias|point:', '|circle:([1-9]d*)+@', '|rectangle:', '\\|'];
-      var re = new RegExp(parts.join(latLng.source), 'g');
-      if (query.locationbias && !re.test(query.locationbias)) {
-        throw new v.InvalidValueError('invalid locationbias');
+      var isLatLng = function(latLng) {
+        latLng = latLng.split(',');
+        return latLng.length == 2 && !isNaN(latLng[0]) && !isNaN(latLng[1]);
+      };
+      var parts = query.locationbias.split(':');
+      switch (parts[0]) {
+        case 'point':
+          if (isLatLng(parts[parts.length - 1])) {
+            return query;
+          }
+          break;
+        case 'circle':
+          parts = parts[parts.length - 1].split('@');
+          if (!isNaN(parts[0]) && isLatLng(parts[parts.length - 1])) {
+            return query;
+          }
+          break;
+        case 'rectangle':
+          parts = parts[parts.length - 1].split('|');
+          if (parts.length == 2 && isLatLng(parts[0]) && isLatLng(parts[1])) {
+            return query;
+          }
+          break;
+        case 'ipbias':
+        case '':
+          return query;
       }
-      return query;
+      throw new v.InvalidValueError('invalid locationbias');
     }
   ])
 };