One of the last people in the world I would ask for directions would be a 12 year old girl.
Most kids aren't that great at giving directions, and with quick, easy access to both directions AND maps via cellphones, I think questioning the motives of an adult who approaches a child he does not know under the pretext of asking for directions is actually pretty valid.
As adults, we know that kids get snatched up by bad people more often than they should, and for that reason it's safe to assume that most kids have been told repeatedly not to speak to strangers. When an adult approaches a child they do not know, regardless of how innocent the reasons for doing so are, that adult is risking putting that kid in a pretty uncomfortable situation by asking her to do something her parents, grandparents, teachers, aunts, uncles, and all the other adults who care about her have been telling her NOT to do ever since she can remember: Don't talk to strangers.
And, yeah, there are definitely some sick, horrible women in the world who are very capable of doing some pretty heinous stuff. Psychopaths come in all flavors and simply being female does not automatically make a person kind or caring or safe. However, women are typically neither as prone to aggressive behavior nor as physically strong as men are, and women do not committ acts of predatory sexual violence at nearly the rate that men do. Men hit and fight more than women, men do one hell of a lot more raping than women do, and men kill more than women do.
Sorry if that isn't a popular thing to say around here. It is what it is, I didn't create the reasons people are wary of strange men who stop little girls on the street and ask them questions much more easily answered by a cell phone app, and if I'm saying things anyone doesn't like hearing, well that's just too damn bad.
And, no, I am absolutely not even saying that all men are likely to rape or hurt children of either sex, that's a fucking ridiculous thing to suggest, so don't even start that kinda gaslighting bullshit with me. I am saying that more men than women do these things and that is why women are perceived as "safer" than men. Women are, by far and large, physically weaker and less aggressive than men, and women are responsible for a lot less violence than men are.
We all take something of a chance any time we speak to a stranger. The smaller and weaker a person is in relation to such a stranger means the greater the risk in speaking to them.