1. A method for object localization comprising the steps of: defining an edge model for object localization; searching an image for an object matching the edge model comprising the steps of: defining a region of interest, including a portion of the object; sub-sampling the region of interest; extracting an edge image comprising edges from the region of interest; thinning at least one edge of the edge image; determining a distance map between the image and the edge image according to a distance transformation; and matching the edge model to the edge image within a search area defined according to the distance map.