A networking system comprising a plurality of content routers coupled to each other and to a plurality of providers and configured to route and cache content data, wherein the content routers are further configured to locate and route requested content to a user node coupled to the content routers, wherein the providers are configured to publish content and the content routers are further configured to receive and cache the content data in response to an interest request for content and to flood a content identifier for the content data to a plurality of neighboring content routers within a specified radius, wherein the content identifier enables the plurality of neighboring content routers to determine a nearest location from which to obtain the content data to enable efficient content routing.