diff --git a/lib/cartodb/models/mapconfig/adapter/analysis-mapconfig-adapter.js b/lib/cartodb/models/mapconfig/adapter/analysis-mapconfig-adapter.js
index b0b5548e..7a7150db 100644
--- a/lib/cartodb/models/mapconfig/adapter/analysis-mapconfig-adapter.js
+++ b/lib/cartodb/models/mapconfig/adapter/analysis-mapconfig-adapter.js
@@ -232,6 +232,15 @@ function getDataviewsList(dataviews) {
 }
 
 function getDataviewsErrors(dataviews) {
+    var dataviewType = typeof dataviews;
+    if (dataviewType !== 'object') {
+        return [new Error('"dataviews" must be a valid JSON object: "' + dataviewType + '" type found')];
+    }
+
+    if (Array.isArray(dataviews)) {
+        return [new Error('"dataviews" must be a valid JSON object: "array" type found')];
+    }
+
     var errors = [];
 
     Object.keys(dataviews).forEach(function(dataviewName) {
diff --git a/test/acceptance/dataviews/error-cases.js b/test/acceptance/dataviews/error-cases.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ebbfdc34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/acceptance/dataviews/error-cases.js
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+require('../../support/test_helper');
+
+var assert = require('../../support/assert');
+var TestClient = require('../../support/test-client');
+
+describe('histogram-dataview', function() {
+
+    afterEach(function(done) {
+        if (this.testClient) {
+            this.testClient.drain(done);
+        } else {
+            done();
+        }
+    });
+
+    var ERROR_RESPONSE = {
+        status: 400,
+        headers: {
+            'Content-Type': 'application/json; charset=utf-8'
+        }
+    };
+
+    function createMapConfig(dataviews) {
+        return {
+            version: '1.5.0',
+            layers: [
+                {
+                    "type": "cartodb",
+                    "options": {
+                        "source": {
+                            "id": "HEAD"
+                        },
+                        "cartocss": "#points { marker-width: 10; marker-fill: red; }",
+                        "cartocss_version": "2.3.0"
+                    }
+                }
+            ],
+            dataviews: dataviews,
+            analyses: [
+                {
+                    "id": "HEAD",
+                    "type": "source",
+                    "params": {
+                        "query": "select null::geometry the_geom_webmercator, x from generate_series(0,1000) x"
+                    }
+                }
+            ]
+        };
+    }
+
+    it('should fail when invalid dataviews object is provided, string case', function(done) {
+        var mapConfig = createMapConfig("wadus-string");
+        this.testClient = new TestClient(mapConfig, 1234);
+        this.testClient.getLayergroup(ERROR_RESPONSE, function(err, errObj) {
+            assert.ok(!err, err);
+
+            assert.deepEqual(errObj, { errors: [ '"dataviews" must be a valid JSON object: "string" type found' ] });
+
+            done();
+        });
+    });
+
+    it('should fail when invalid dataviews object is provided, array case', function(done) {
+        var mapConfig = createMapConfig([]);
+        this.testClient = new TestClient(mapConfig, 1234);
+        this.testClient.getLayergroup(ERROR_RESPONSE, function(err, errObj) {
+            assert.ok(!err, err);
+
+            assert.deepEqual(errObj, { errors: [ '"dataviews" must be a valid JSON object: "array" type found' ] });
+
+            done();
+        });
+    });
+
+    it('should work with empty but valid objects', function(done) {
+        var mapConfig = createMapConfig({});
+        this.testClient = new TestClient(mapConfig, 1234);
+        this.testClient.getLayergroup(function(err, layergroup) {
+            assert.ok(!err, err);
+
+            assert.ok(layergroup);
+            assert.ok(layergroup.layergroupid);
+
+            done();
+        });
+    });
+});