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I think the key difference between the relational and XML database models - which the article does point out - is that the native XML model stores / makes available information about the structure of the data - as well as just the data - through the same interface.
This is what I have found to be the most important distinction and consideration when deciding to use XML for data representation - your data structure is 'naturally' also data of the same kind.
An analogy is the difference between a functional programming language like LISP that can operate on itself as part of the design vs. a procedural one like C that either cannot - or requires tortuous code / hacking to achieve the same effect.
This often means that queries, processing etc. can be easily made much more generic / re-useable as they can have a large independence from any specific structure / syntax. And this also makes it much easier to mix information from many different structures.
So - it's less a question of whether the data in the structure can be mapped between the two cases, more a question of what you can do with the data structures.
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