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Travelers do not need permission to go to Antarctica, but tourism operators must hold a valid permit. First, a bit of background on why it is legal to visit Antarctica. Antarctica is not a country. The continent is protected by the Antarctic Treaty, which preserves it for peaceful and scientific use.

The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) is the first-ever true-color high-resolution satellite view of the Antarctic continent, enabling you to see Antarctica as it would really appear if you were hovering above it.

Tourism. Travelling to Antarctica may have a potential harmful impact on the environment. As a result, you should avoid any travel that is not part of an international scientific expedition or organized through a tour operator. Various tourism companies can arrange excursions to the continent.

On Antarctica there are no cities or villages, 98% of the continent is covered by ice. The map shows also the location of scientific research stations operated by various countries on the continent.

Oh, and yes, sorry, Google Maps uses a close variant of the Mercator map projection, so it hardly show areas around the poles, you only can see the "peeled" version of the Antarctica (see the small world map on the right).

NASA and partner satellites do have images of Antarctica that have been directly captured from space.

The Earth's curvature blocks South Pole from seeing most satellites in what is called geosynchronous orbit - a special orbit 22,236 miles above the equator, traveling in the direction of the Earth's rotation. At that altitude and velocity, the satellite appears to remain stationary from an observer on Earth.

Google Maps uses the Mercator projection, which has the characteristic that things look bigger and bigger the closer you get to the poles. You can't show the poles because the map scale there is infinity.