Soft x-ray spectromicroscopy techniques have seen great amount of development in the recent years, and with the development of new diffraction limited synchrotron source, many new nanoscale and mesoscale characterization opportunities of applied materials are foreseen. In this perspective, the authors present some examples that illustrate the capabilities of spectromicroscopy techniques, namely, 2D and 3D spatially resolved chemical quantification, surface and bulk sensitive measurements, and polarization dependent measurements as applied to iron oxide nanoparticulate materials of biological, geological, and other origins.