  We present microlensing calculations for a Galactic model based on Han &
Gould (2003), which is empirically normalised by star counts. We find good
agreement between this model and data recently published by the MACHO and OGLE
collaborations for the optical depth in various Galactic fields, and the trends
thereof with Galactic longitude l and latitude b. We produce maps of optical
depth and, by adopting simple kinematic models, of average event timescales for
microlensing towards the Galactic bulge. We also find that our model
predictions are in reasonable agreement with the OGLE data for the expected
timescale distribution. We show that the fractions of events with very long and
short timescales due to a lens of mass M are weighted by M^2 n(M)dM and M^(-1)
n(M)dM respectively, independent of the density and kinematics of the lenses.
