according to
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~fp/courses/gr...catmullRom.pdf
the difference between akima and catmull-rom is the way the tangents are computed at point 2 and 3 .
in akima . P1P2 in point 2
in catmull-rom. P1P3 in point 2 ( if tension=0.5) .
But obviously, they belong to the same family.