Google maps api keys: dev -> staging -> production workflow

Question

Does anyone have a good solution for managing the maps api key, given that:

• developers work locally, using localhost

• we have a staging server, accessed internally via http://stagehost and externally (for customers) via IP address

• finally, a production server (http://some.domain.com)

Two questions:

First, how do people manage their keys in this type of scenario, given that there's always a chance for a mixup. Internal servers are not accessible via stagehost.domain.com

Second, how can we address the staging server issue? The ip address is not accessible internally. Is this possible?

Answer 1

I have a table in my database that stores the Google Map keys for all of my different URLs. Then I just pull out the correct key based on the URL. This lets the same code work for dev, test, & production across 100 sites.