Knowing when to leave for the airport just got easier.

Product Manager and Builder Ke’Shawn Alexander is a Washington, D.C., native who now resides in Atlanta, GA. He developed an interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) early on, taking inspiration from his family. His grandmother was a mathematician, and his uncle worked for NASA as a drafter, he told AFROTECH™. Alexander wound up attending a STEM middle school, and later earned a bachelor’s in general science from Morehouse College and a bachelor’s in engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

SkySpot

Now, Alexander is putting his skills to the test by building his first tech startup inspired by his travel experiences. As an avid traveler, he would regularly navigate the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, calculating parking lot availability, TSA wait times, and traffic routes with each trip. This shaped what became SkySpot, an AI-powered trip intelligence tool that determines when travelers should leave for the airport to arrive at their gate, providing a single, optimized departure time recommendation.

“I’m combining traffic data, TSA variability, some airport data heuristics, and then the different transportation options to actually deliver that recommendation,” Alexander told AFROTECH™.

SkySpot also factors in whether the user should drive their own vehicle to the airport or use ride-sharing services such as Uber or Lyft. It deep links to Google Maps and Apple Maps to populate the user’s location and the airport’s coordinates, and uses the data to help with their trip navigation.

The platform includes a risk indicator, which is a probability signal that categorizes airport and traffic conditions as low, medium, or high based on TSA data and real-time traffic APIs, helping users gauge how busy conditions may be, Alexander told AFROTECH™.

Additionally, SkySpot features a confidence score feature that determines how accurate the app’s recommended departure time is.

“Right now, travelers rely on too many apps. You’re cycling through maybe three to four applications to figure out how to plan a trip, whether it’s going to Delta to get your ticket and look at your flight information, then going to Google apps or the ride share [apps] to get some other information. Then maybe ParkMobile if you’re driving, you’re not parking on site,” he explained. “For me, it’s just offering people a way of convenience and a certainty that they’ll be able to get from their house to the airport on time.”

SkySpot is currently in beta testing, targeting users traveling domestically. Alexander told AFROTECH™ that the goal is to expand to all 50 states and, later, to international travelers. For now, SkySpot is currently available at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

“We’re looking to evolve from the rule-based heuristics that we’re using to like actual probabilistic modeling. So over time, we’re building the confidence score that is reflected on the on-time arrival probability. And then also AI will be used to personalize people’s travel experience based on how they want to travel,” Alexander said.

Feedback overall has been generally positive, Alexander claims. Users have stated that SkySpot has been “super accurate” in its recommendations, and some noted they would use the app repeatedly. As for the app’s growth, users hope for an incentive program like a credit card partnership and increased accessibility features for disabled populations, which he acknowledged will certainly be a further consideration.

Those using the beta version are directed to SkySpot’s iOS mobile app. The mobile app is free to use, but at launch, there will be an option to sign up for the SkySpot Pro subscription to access premium features.

Alexander also noted he will be launching a founding members tier, which will offer a select group of people a lifetime discount and access to 2.0 features like flight number autofill, a personalized buffer setting, and priority updates, such as flight delay and cancellation.

To join the beta version, you can visit skyspotapp.com.