Spatineo Blog and Knowledge Base Who are we? – Marfa Dontsova

Who are we? – Marfa Dontsova

1.) Name, title and when did you start working at Spatineo?

Marfa, Data consultant, started in Spring 2022.

2.) What do you do at Spatineo in practice? Tell us what kind of cases, projects and work you will be doing in the future!

I do UX design, data modeling and vizualisation- everything I’ve enjoyed before, and everything I keep enjoying with our client and inside projects!
For Natural Resources of Finland I lead user research and created a new graphic interface plan for their service with requirements analysis documentation. It was a great challenge and I had a pleasure to get to know my colleagues better (and forestry growth nuances, too).
The project is not ready yet, but I look forward to the client meetings that I now will be taking care of, while the coders do their job,.

For Metheorological Institute of Finland I mainly supported our engineers with user need analysis and then took care of the Open Data Dashboard, using AWS Quicksight for the first time. 

3.) What is the best thing about your work?

Possibility to test and fail safely. I make mock-ups and prototypes, so it’s never too late to change the outcome after testing.
Also, the analysis of the results. It is always exciting to dive in and try to paint a new picture out of separate pieces. Sometimes it feels like everything is lost and way too complicated, but in a moment you brainstorm, ask one more question, or simply go back to your older notes, and it starts to make sense. 

4.) And the best thing about Spatineo?

Everyone is motivated to do their best. Earlier, I did separate projects, and sometimes felt like I am the only one fighting for the good result. In Spatineo, I love to go to the office and see how others tinker problems, sometimes stress about them, but always getting back to it with a smile.

Working at Spatineo also made me more aware of how valuable feedback is in Open Data, so I’ve been more actively answering pools and sending requests to all the map services I’m using.
My projects were great, and I am eager to learn new details about our customers and their stories. 

5.) What technologies (geospatial or not) fascinate you the most? What technologies should be utilized more in the future?

Open data is something I love as a user. When my friends look for new apartments, I always flood them with maps that contain information about noise pollution, sun trajectory and future renocations in the area. I think it’s something everyone should be encouraged to search and utilize.
Internet archive is my favourite website that I use to follow the changing trends in GUI development.

As someone who is looking at technologies from the client & user perspective, I think the most important thing is not what technologies are used, but how and why they are used. The internal quality and a good solution matter more than the tools they’re made with. If there is a clear problem that is trying to be accessed, the fix can always be found, but solving the wrong thing for the wrong reasons with the best technologies will always be a waste of time.