3 ideas
A map can encode what a place is like to live in (foods, animals, customs, landmarks, famous people) instead of borders, elevations, and capitals. Replacing abstract data layers with concrete, drawable things turns the map from a tool for locating into a tool for imagining, which suits a reader who has no use yet for coordinates.
The check targets a specific failure: an outside author picks symbols that are recognizable abroad but stale, stereotyped, or wrong at home. Insiders correct which dishes, customs, and figures actually represent the place.
Packing a page with many small, hand-drawn items rewards browsing, because the reader explores and discovers rather than looks something up. The trade is deliberate: geographic precision and completeness are given up so that curiosity and repeated return visits become the learning mechanism.