eCognition is based on object oriented approach to image analysis. It is explicitly designed to work even on Very High Resolution (VHR) or radar imagery and it includes options to develop knowledge bases for elaborate classification of land use. The basic difference to pixel-based procedures is that eCognition does not classify single pixel, but rather image object primitives that are extracted in a previous image segmentation step.
Unfortunately this software is not free but the trial version and training materials can be downloaded from below:
http://www.ecognition.com/products/trial-software http://www.ecognition.com/cynin_login?ajax=true&back=http://community.ecognition.com/home/training-material
People using eCognition include: