Local hybrid approximation for scattered data fitting with bivariate splines

We suggest a local hybrid approximation scheme based on polynomials and radial basis functions, and use it to improve the scattered data fitting algorithm of (Davydov, O., Zeilfelder, F., 2004. Scattered data fitting by direct extension of local polynomials to bivariate splines. Adv. Comp. Math. 21, 223–271). Similar to that algorithm, the new method has linear computational complexity and is therefore suitable for large real world data. Numerical examples suggest that it can produce high quality artifact-free approximations that are more accurate than those given by the original method where pure polynomial local approximations are used.