[didymospl]

I don't know what's idiomatic here as English is not my first language, but according to my dictionary "localize" can also mean "to find the position of something"

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/localize

Maybe it's British vs American English?

[w0mbat]

I looked at Merriam-Webster online, the snippet Google pulls from the OED and the Mac dictionary app which uses the New American Oxford.

"Locate" would lead to less confusion among readers. It unanimously has the right definition, and is a simpler word.

[MauranKilom]

I think one of the reasons that one is not used because usages like "Simultaneous Location And Mapping" (instead of the "Simultaneous Localization And Mapping" that SLAM stands for) would read a bit strange... "location" is more commonly used to mean "the place" and not "the act of finding the place".