A matching apparatus comprising: a sensor-side metadata acquisition unit that acquires sensor-side metadata that is information regarding a sensor that outputs sensing data; an application-side metadata acquisition unit that acquires application-side metadata that is information regarding an application that provides a service with use of the sensing data; a matching unit that: calculates both of a first relevancy between a term in the sensor-side metadata and a first related term and a second relevancy between a term in the application-side metadata and a second related term, the first related term being related to the term in the acquired sensor-side metadata, the second related term being related to the term in the acquired application-side metadata; performs matching between the sensor-side metadata and the application-side metadata in which the first related term and the second related term are in common with each other, with use of the first related term having a first relevancy that is in a predetermined range and the first relevancy, or with use of the second related term having a second relevancy that is in the predetermined range and the second relevancy, and extracts a candidate sensor that can provide sensing data that matches needs of the application; and an instruction unit that transmits, to a sensor management apparatus that manages the sensor, a dataflow control command that includes information that specifies the sensor extracted by the matching unit and the application, and a range setting unit that sets the predetermined range of the first relevancy to be used with respect to the first related term, or the predetermined range of the second relevancy to be used with respect to the second related term, wherein in a case where a contract is established with an application-side user through a current matching, the range setting unit sets, a threshold value that determines the predetermined range of the first relevancy or the predetermined range of the second relevancy at the current matching as an initial threshold value that determines the predetermined range of the first relevancy or the predetermined range of the second relevancy when matching is to be started the next time. a sensor-side metadata acquisition unit that acquires sensor-side metadata that is information regarding a sensor that outputs sensing data; an application-side metadata acquisition unit that acquires application-side metadata that is information regarding an application that provides a service with use of the sensing data; a matching unit that: calculates both of a first relevancy between a term in the sensor-side metadata and a first related term and a second relevancy between a term in the application-side metadata and a second related term, the first related term being related to the term in the acquired sensor-side metadata, the second related term being related to the term in the acquired application-side metadata; performs matching between the sensor-side metadata and the application-side metadata in which the first related term and the second related term are in common with each other, with use of the first related term having a first relevancy that is in a predetermined range and the first relevancy, or with use of the second related term having a second relevancy that is in the predetermined range and the second relevancy, and extracts a candidate sensor that can provide sensing data that matches needs of the application; and calculates both of a first relevancy between a term in the sensor-side metadata and a first related term and a second relevancy between a term in the application-side metadata and a second related term, the first related term being related to the term in the acquired sensor-side metadata, the second related term being related to the term in the acquired application-side metadata; performs matching between the sensor-side metadata and the application-side metadata in which the first related term and the second related term are in common with each other, with use of the first related term having a first relevancy that is in a predetermined range and the first relevancy, or with use of the second related term having a second relevancy that is in the predetermined range and the second relevancy, and extracts a candidate sensor that can provide sensing data that matches needs of the application; and an instruction unit that transmits, to a sensor management apparatus that manages the sensor, a dataflow control command that includes information that specifies the sensor extracted by the matching unit and the application, and a range setting unit that sets the predetermined range of the first relevancy to be used with respect to the first related term, or the predetermined range of the second relevancy to be used with respect to the second related term, wherein in a case where a contract is established with an application-side user through a current matching, the range setting unit sets, a threshold value that determines the predetermined range of the first relevancy or the predetermined range of the second relevancy at the current matching as an initial threshold value that determines the predetermined range of the first relevancy or the predetermined range of the second relevancy when matching is to be started the next time.