Two supervised classification methods, the maximum likelihood and ellipsoid classification methods [1] were used to classify the crop cover by using Landsat TM data. The accuracy and performance of both classification methods were compared. The results show clear improvements of the ellipsoid method in overall accuracy and computational speed.Two supervised classification methods, the maximum likelihood and ellipsoid classification methods [1] were used to classify the crop cover by using Landsat TM data. The accuracy and performance of both classification methods were compared. The results show clear improvements of the ellipsoid method in overall accuracy and computational speed