Power
Influence? Ha. You're providing the world with accurate mapping tools so that they can get from Point A to Point B without hitting a dead end. Without you, everyone on earth (and we mean everyone) would be lost. All. The. Time.
If Jack Sparrow didn't have that fancy circle-y map, he would have never found the Fountain of Youth. And of course, Dora the Explorer would be one song short of a TV show without her map.
You bet you have influence. In fact, without cartographers, the world would not exist as it does today.
Fine, fine, we'll be honest—this influence is rarely acknowledged. Still, think about where the world would be without your mapmaking skills.
They'd be taking a left when they should've taken a right. That's where they'd be.