diff --git a/include/network/protocol/http/message/header.hpp b/include/network/protocol/http/message/header.hpp
index 86dc791dd..815a38569 100644
--- a/include/network/protocol/http/message/header.hpp
+++ b/include/network/protocol/http/message/header.hpp
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ namespace network {
 namespace http {
 
 struct request_header {
+  typedef std::string string_type;
   std::string name, value;
 };
 
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ inline void swap(request_header & l, request_header & r) {
 }
 
 struct response_header {
+  typedef std::string string_type;
   std::string name, value;
 };
 
diff --git a/include/network/uri/accessors.hpp b/include/network/uri/accessors.hpp
index d15b506be..4d0f67d83 100644
--- a/include/network/uri/accessors.hpp
+++ b/include/network/uri/accessors.hpp
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ struct key_value_sequence
     {
         query =  pair >> *((boost::spirit::qi::lit(';') | '&') >> pair);
         pair  =  key >> -('=' >> value);
-        key   =  boost::spirit::qi::char_("a-zA-Z_") >> *boost::spirit::qi::char_("a-zA-Z_0-9/%");
-        value = +boost::spirit::qi::char_("a-zA-Z_0-9/%");
+        key   =  boost::spirit::qi::char_("a-zA-Z_") >> *boost::spirit::qi::char_("-+.~a-zA-Z_0-9/%");
+        value = *boost::spirit::qi::char_("-+.~a-zA-Z_0-9/%");
     }
 
     boost::spirit::qi::rule<uri::const_iterator, Map()> query;
diff --git a/include/network/uri/decode.hpp b/include/network/uri/decode.hpp
index c49e95755..40c50acaa 100644
--- a/include/network/uri/decode.hpp
+++ b/include/network/uri/decode.hpp
@@ -74,6 +74,12 @@ OutputIterator decode(const InputIterator &in_begin,
             *out++ = 0x10 * v0 + v1;
         }
         else
+	   if (*it == '+')
+	   {
+	       *out++ = ' ';
+	       ++ it;
+	   }
+	   else
         {
             *out++ = *it++;
         }
diff --git a/libs/network/test/uri/uri_test.cpp b/libs/network/test/uri/uri_test.cpp
index 360ee0be0..72c12246d 100644
--- a/libs/network/test/uri/uri_test.cpp
+++ b/libs/network/test/uri/uri_test.cpp
@@ -691,3 +691,17 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(uri_unordered_set_test) {
     BOOST_REQUIRE(!uri_set.empty());
     BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL((*uri_set.begin()), network::uri("http://www.example.com/"));
 }
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(issue_161_test) {
+    network::uri instance("http://www.example.com/path?param1=-&param2=some+plus+encoded+text&param3=~");
+    BOOST_REQUIRE(network::valid(instance));
+
+    std::map<std::string, std::string> queries;
+    network::query_map(instance, queries);
+    BOOST_REQUIRE_EQUAL(queries.size(), std::size_t(3));
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(queries["param1"], "-");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(queries["param2"], "some+plus+encoded+text");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(queries["param3"], "~");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(network::decoded(queries["param2"]), "some plus encoded text");
+}
+