I like that imagery! Heck, I wouldn't argue with her....
But on a less whimsical note....RQ era left-overs aside, I'm not sure that the Orlanthi would be all that mappish, at least not with maps the way we expect to see them.
Rather, I suspect they use some combination of what amount to directions (usually a series of sketches, since most can't read words), and aerial view sketches (there are enough flyers, cloud walkers, and even mountains or tall hills and what not around that I suspect these are reasonably common).
The directions would be pretty subjective, view from the ground, and scaled by travel time (if at all), and most likely important points and features are disproportionately large. Although far more often these instructions will be passed along verbally (sometimes put into a poem or song for easier recall, for major routes).
Aerial sketches may somewhat resemble a map, but since the artist has to focus on staying aloft, most likely only important points will be jotted down while aloft, with some more detail included later. Views from a mountain will be more detailed, but of course from a more angled view. The common use of runes may make these sketches look more map like, as there may be a tendency to instead of drawing a village, put in the rune of the clan who lives here, use the plant rune for a forest, or whatever.
By contrast, I'm sure that you are correct that the lunars make good maps. Well, more to the point that the Dara Happans make good maps. They do take a very 'top down' view of things, literaly as well as figuratively. So while I'm sure they also use aerial survey, they may have developed quite accurate ground based measuring devices as well--after all, a lord must know exactly the extent of his holdings, even if he is recovering them after three generations of barbarian disruption or something.
--Bryan
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