I've always been reluctant to view land as an investment. We've always focused on what we need from the property, over what we think will appreciate best.
The exception I'd make though, is that if you think an area is going to grow for some reason, then there's nothing wrong with putting your money where your mouth is and buying some speculative land.
It clearly viewed as an investment worldwide today. Can be good or bad.
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For the reasons you laid out, though, it's usually suboptimal to treat it as an investment.
My father-in-law was always encouraging us to buy houses with this-or-that feature that he claimed was good for resale value. My attitude was always "but I don't want to pay the premium for features I don't care about, not to mention the extra taxes on a higher appraised home."
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