A Hybrid Spatio-Textual Matching Approach for Evaluating Historical Web-Derived Address Data with Spatial Consistency Assessment: A Case Study of the 2009 Administrative Delineation of Şişli, Istanbul

This study presents a hybrid spatio-textual matching approach for integrating historical web-derived address datasets with a municipal reference dataset, using the 2009 administrative delineation of Şişli (Istanbul) as a case study. The proposed approach addresses challenges commonly encountered in data obtained from web archives, such as lexical differences, abbreviations, heterogeneous structures, and missing address information. The methodology consists of three main stages: (i) preprocessing and structuring of web-based address records; (ii) hybrid matching, combining deterministic rules with similarity-based methods; and (iii) post-matching geographic enrichment using an Application Programming Interface (API) to provide supplementary geographic context for matched records. The matching process is conducted exclusively between historical datasets; contemporary geographic information is used only after the completion of the matching process to provide additional contextual information. The methodology integrates token-based, vector-based, and structural similarity measures within a calibrated scoring scheme to improve the matching of ambiguous and inconsistent address records. The results indicate that 65.4% of the records were automatically accepted, 7.3% required manual review, and no suitable candidate was found for 5.4%. Deterministic matching results reveal that strict rule-based approaches are highly sensitive to data integrity and attribute consistency, especially in heterogeneous web-based datasets, highlighting the value of combining multiple similarity measures within a hybrid matching strategy. The API-based enrichment results provide supplementary geographic context regarding the contemporary surroundings of matched records, while historical interpretations remain grounded in the original archival datasets. In this context, the study may contribute to the integration of historical web-based address data with structured municipal datasets under heterogeneous archival data conditions.