For a long time, I've tracked certain metrics in plain-text form, including weight, expenses, flights, and others.
I use iA Writer because it synchronizes my notes across macOS and iOS devices.
So I end up with Markdown (.md) files that are, in essence, a chronological database.
But I need a program to make sense of the data, parse it into an actual database, and visualize it in a graph that I can understand, such as a scatterplot.
I built a proof-of-concept from scratch almost a year ago, which I just open-sourced at github.com/nonoesp/note-parser. I intend to develop it a bit more and host it online.
A previous prototype, really barebones, is live at Expensed.me.
The idea is to drag and drop (or type) plain-text notes and visualize the data with a specific format as a scatterplot or other charts.
A sample note would look like this, containing both weights and currency amounts in euros. (Note the comments on the right side. That would be the data inferred from each line.)
2022 # 2022.01.01
Aug # 2022.08.01
18 # 2022.08.18
63.5kg # 63.5 kilograms
19 # 2022.08.19
65kg # 65 kilograms
62.50€/2 #food @supermarket # 31.25 euros
23 # 2022.08.23
23€ #food @gusto # 23 euros