Thank you Falconius. You are right about sea texture. That's actually a displacement map, but definitely needs manual work. Also, the compass rose and the map banner will have to be done in 3d to blend in. I'm working on the banner currently. Same goes for a border.

The aerial is a bit more complex. This is going to be the last page, and there will be text on the sky, and that's the main focus there. It's farewell to the bears who live on that island. Actually it's not this particular image, here it only serves to show the usefulness of a "real" object as map.
Dead right on the horizon curve too, I'll implement that - although we aren't flying very high here, it's a small island.

As for focus: the filter system I work with and Freestyle itself doesn't allow for DOF effects. The whole book is done in a half-cartoony style, so I don't see this as a problem.

Interestingly, Freestyle also excludes panoramic camera use, so the horizon will have to be bent by brute force. But I didn't think of that, thanks again.