Electron energy loss spectroscopy, when coupled to a field emission STEM offers unique perspectives for subnanometer analysis of inhomogeneous specimens. The present contribution points out how the convergence of progress in instrumentation (practical realization of the spectrum-image mode for data acquisition and processing) and in theory (improvement of the understanding of near-edge fine structures) opens the way to the mapping of electronic, bonding, structural and chemical information with a near-atomic spatial resolution, as demonstrated with an example involving a complex nanoparticle.