Top: distribution for all 281 536 stars in the match VVV+VSX. The data points are colour-coded by the total extinction A_Ks, integrated along the entire line of sight for each object. Values vary from A_Ks < 0.01 mag to A_Ks ∼ 3 mag near the Galactic centre. For nearby objects the total extinction as calculated by the VVV maps is certainly overestimated. Bottom: CMD diagram for the bulge (left) and disk (right) containing the variable stars of our sample colour-coded by the A_Ks parameter. The arrow shows the reddening vector for the diagram.