Thanks for the workaround!
It looks like this issue is fixed in the latest codebase. So if you want to patch your ionic.bundle.js file instead of using this workaround, just update this line:
function $LocationDecorator
...
if (isDefined(value)) { ... // << update this line
to this:
if (isDefined(value) && value.length > 0) { ...
P.S. It would be interesting if someone could work the GitHub blame tool and find the commit?