1. A computer-implemented method of linking two or more applications associated with one or more user devices, the method comprising: accessing, by one or more processors, a uniform resource identifier (URI) specifying a request to link to a selected state within a mapping software application from a third-party software application associated with a user device, the URI being associated with a multi-platform application programming interface (API) associated with the mapping software application and configured for use by a plurality of different operating system platforms, the multi-platform API comprising a common URI syntax for use within the plurality of different operating system platforms without an application-level determination of an operating system platform on which the third-party software application and the mapping software application are executing, the URI comprising a query string specifying one or more location parameters in accordance with the common URI syntax, the one or more location parameters configured to control an execution of the selected state by the mapping software application on the user device; detecting, by the one or more processors, a presence of the mapping software application on the user device; responsive to detecting the mapping software application, launching, by the one or more processors, the mapping software application in the selected state based at least in part on the URI; parsing, by the one or more processors, at least a portion of the query string to identify the one or more location parameters; and performing, by the one or more processors, one or more actions associated with the selected state of the mapping software application based at least in part on the one or more location parameters.