Dude, where’s my car? The Hidden Cost of Broken Indoor Navigation

From the Travel Tech Podcast newsletter for episode 4, Dude, Where's My Car? The Hidden Cost of Broken Indoor Navigation.

Listen to the episode here.

In this episode, I speak with Dustin Gimbel, co-founder of RouteMe, a company delivering video-based indoor navigation across airports, airlines, and healthcare systems. Dustin outlines live deployments, including a Miami International pilot that converted into a multi-year contract, and airline integrations that embed routing directly into existing passenger channels rather than relying on standalone navigation applications.

The conversation focuses on the practical constraints of indoor navigation in aviation environments: GPS denial within multi-level concrete structures, variable indoor bandwidth, continual spatial change, and passengers operating under acute cognitive load. We examine why RouteMe rejected beacon-heavy and app-centric approaches in favor of web-based video routes, how pre-arrival distribution through airline apps and communications reframes navigation as a preventative system, and the resulting operational effects, including measurable reductions in PRM demand driven by language barriers rather than mobility limitations.

Key takeaways

• GPS-Denied Indoor Navigation Constraints
• Pre-Arrival Navigation Distribution Channels
• PRM Cost Leakage Mechanisms
• Video-First Wayfinding System Architecture
• Passenger Cognitive Load Saturation

We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Alex Brooker, Host of the Travel Tech Podcast, Founder of Airside Labs