77 W~UMa-type systems to I=18 mag in one of the 21 fields of OGLE have been
assessed in terms of utility for extraction of astrophysical information from
time-independent data such as colors, periods, maximum magnitudes, and
variability amplitudes in the final global OGLE catalog which will contain
>1000 contact binaries. A subset of systems with absolute magnitudes MIβ<3 permits mapping of stellar distribution towards the Galactic Bulge to about
6~kpc from us, with indications that the reddening EVβIβ>0.6.Comment: text and 5 figures in PS format, packed with uufiles, submitted to
ApJLet