
Preface to the Second Edition
Shortly after the manuscript for the first edition of this book went to the pub-
lisher, ENVI 4.3 appeared along with, a mong other new featur es, a s upport
vector ma chine clas sifier. Although my decision not to include the SVM in
the origina l text was a conscious one (I balked at the thought of writing my
own IDL implementation), this event did point to a rather gla ring omission
in a book purporting to be partly about land use/land cover classification.
So, almost immediately, I began to dream of a Revised Second Edition and
to pester CRC Press for a contract. This was happily forthcoming and the
present edition now