Techcrunch had a link to this simply excellent blog post about the details behind the readability of Google Maps. It’s like a mini-Malcolm Gladwell essay devoted just to showing why it really is the details that make the difference when it comes to information architecture.
I’ve become a zealous convert to that point-of-view with my work on the XDI graph model. Here’s an example of just how much detail, nuance, and semantic power can be packed into the smallest of graph fragments. It’s taught me a world of lessons about why the semantic web is so complex (if you want a mind-boggling view of the world of description logic models — of which the entire W3C Semantic Web is just one branch — take a look at this page).
I’m a sucker for authors who have a talent for distilling out that complexity into explanations the average mortal can appreciate, and this blog post is a wonderful example.