A localization method comprising: acquiring localization information of an apparatus comprising a location of the apparatus and a pose of the apparatus; acquiring an input image based on the output of a photographing device, estimating objects from the input image, generating a first image from the input image wherein the first image includes directional characteristics corresponding to the objects, wherein a directional characteristic is a distance field map ; generating a second image by: placing a virtual camera at the location on map data; adjusting a pose of the virtual camera based on the pose of the apparatus; and generating an image of a viewpoint at which the objects are viewed from the virtual camera; and updating the localization information based on visual alignment between the first image and the second image, wherein for the first image objects are classified based on an object type, and a directional characteristic for each object type is stored, wherein for the second image objects are classified based on the object type, and the second image objects are stored for each object type, and wherein updating the localization information comprises: calculating a degree of visual alignment for each object of each object type by matching the first image and the second image; and modifying the localization information to increase the degree of visual alignment for each object of each object type based on the directional characteristic. acquiring localization information of an apparatus comprising a location of the apparatus and a pose of the apparatus; acquiring an input image based on the output of a photographing device, estimating objects from the input image, generating a first image from the input image wherein the first image includes directional characteristics corresponding to the objects, wherein a directional characteristic is a distance field map ; generating a second image by: placing a virtual camera at the location on map data; adjusting a pose of the virtual camera based on the pose of the apparatus; and generating an image of a viewpoint at which the objects are viewed from the virtual camera; and placing a virtual camera at the location on map data; adjusting a pose of the virtual camera based on the pose of the apparatus; and generating an image of a viewpoint at which the objects are viewed from the virtual camera; and updating the localization information based on visual alignment between the first image and the second image, wherein for the first image objects are classified based on an object type, and a directional characteristic for each object type is stored, wherein for the second image objects are classified based on the object type, and the second image objects are stored for each object type, and wherein updating the localization information comprises: calculating a degree of visual alignment for each object of each object type by matching the first image and the second image; and modifying the localization information to increase the degree of visual alignment for each object of each object type based on the directional characteristic. calculating a degree of visual alignment for each object of each object type by matching the first image and the second image; and modifying the localization information to increase the degree of visual alignment for each object of each object type based on the directional characteristic. <EOS>