"The" .. I was thinking that myself. I went through the same phase with my city maps, there's only a few left now, and those are for businesses and the like that seemed to require it to sound right Otherwise really, it's a waste of space that could be better used to show the terrain behind it

I understand the bit about making things so obvious they don't need labels, but sometimes easier said than done. that having been said, the only building in here that doesn't look like a house or a barn is the church. I think the issue is that at current, the only way to differentiate the Blacksmith shop from the general store from thaddeus's house is ... well, there is no way without labels or a key. they just look the same. The sawmill and grist mill could use waterwheels or something similar, though i can see in the grist mill it might be difficult to show due to the angle, but you could maybe have it poking out the front. I would also expect to see a fairly impressive chimney on the blacksmith and the kiln, at present there are none (though it's very possible you are getting ready to address those observations, Ive just beaten you to it in expressing them, heh)

I don't like keys. If I have to put work into figuring out what things are, i'm more likely to skip over them. Then again that's from a purely viewing perspective - from a gamemastering perspective they have their uses, but even then I would find myself jotting notes on the map itself so i didn't have to go look things up again.

Personal opinions there of course.