General DiscussionImproving map awareness

1)Always? Its not hard to interpret, you should be able to get all the information you need from just a quick glance. And for the most part, any real danager should be communicated to you (assuming you have an organised team). It's not that big of an issue really, its much more about predicting what the enemy will do. Where they will pressure/push, how committed are they. What would be their current goal given the lineup and current situation? I mean if they had a NS mid, and he has gone missing, you would really need to be careful in your safelane. But consider the gankability of your allies on the map, are you the real target? In a lot of situations its not best to try your luck, as the enemy can really do whatever they want, and making the wrong choice can leave you in a bad spot. So try to be wary and make sure you aren't in a position where you can easily be jumped on. This means standing on high ground overlooking low ground entries if possible, and various other things.

2) Whatever you want, if you get used to default, its a lot better, because you get a lot more information without much extra effort. A hero missing can mean little, a NS or QoP missing can be gamebreaking. Again, in an organised team this will be communicated to you.

3) I generally just check my half of the map. It depends who is in the enemy safelane though, its not very often they will come across the map to gank you. Obviously if you are a mid hero, you want to check the whole map, which again, really should be a diagonal line across the map, its not a big deal.

4) Screen. Positioning is everything, I can't see why you would use the minimap for this

If you want to play carry, watch ZSMJ games. He plays that role so damn well its not even funny. He knows exactly where he needs to be for almost the entire game, which fights to take, where he should be, etc.
http://dotabuff.com/matches/103591593

I can't pick any mid players who stand out from the rest, all your standard players like ferrari and super have amazing map awareness.

^ my mid stands out like a fucking pro :D

i look more at the minimap more than i look at the game screen

explains the lack of carrying you do :(

do it as much as u want/can

Here's a good rule. If you are just in lane and you don't need to deny/last hit glace at your minimap. When looking at your minimap see how many enemies you can see. If you are laning and you see top is top, mid is mid, go back to last hitting.If there is someone missing consider what hero it is. Is it lvl 5 treant or is it lvl 7 nightstalker. If its the latter start considering where he will be if he's not in his laneg. Later in the game, check your minimap while you are running between lanes etc, when everyone is missing start considering if they perhaps might have smoked, gone rosh, or are they all farming in jungle out of vision.

Count the heroes on your map, see what allies you have around you and act accordingly. If its one hero think about who it is, if its necrolyte hes probably doing nothing, if its nyx assassin he's prolly gonna try and kill someone. All of this should come as common sense as you play the game more.

Always consider the worst case scenario. If someone got a rune bot and you didn't see it, imagine its haste or invis until they return to vision so you can tell what it was. Use your minimap when ganking. If you see only one hero on the minimap perhaps don't go for a gank, there is a chance all his team are behind him. If you see someone on their own and you can see 2 or 3 in other lanes, check if they have tps or any way to save him. Make sure you are thinking whats happening in the game at all stages and you won't go wrong.

Keep colours on so you can see what hero it is.