You can get some information just by glancing at a map and then more and different information by zooming in. Fractals were literally discovered by someone mapping coastlines.Every time you zoom in on a fractal, it presents the same pattern on a different scale.
If a map doesn’t give you something useful on first glance, it’s not doing its job. Most pure-text roadmaps fail on this point - it’s very hard to get something useful on first glance from pure text unless it has a well crafted outline. If you can’t get different useful things when you investigate a map more closely it’s not doing its job.
If you can’t get different useful things when you investigate a map more closely it’s not doing its job. Digital maps are wonderful in this way because they can actually load scale-dependent information. Good paper maps did this by being obscenely detailed - cartographers ‘entire professional life is spent at the magnification level of a postage stamp.’